C7 Pty Limited (C7) has notified the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of an access dispute under Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974 with Telstra Multimedia, Foxtel and related entities over access to Telstra's cable network to provide pay television services.
The full Federal Court recently upheld the ACCC's decision to make the carriage of pay television services over the Telstra cable network a declared service following a legal challenge to that decision from Foxtel and Telstra. Declaration means that access seekers, such as C7, can notify a dispute to the ACCC over the ability to gain access and the terms and conditions under which access is given and for that dispute to be arbitrated by the ACCC.
C7 has indicated that it has attempted to negotiate access to the declared pay TV carriage service with the network owners both before and after the Federal Court decision. The dispute has similarities with the dispute currently being arbitrated by the ACCC involving another access seeker, Television and Radio Broadcasting Services, seeking access to the same service.
The ACCC has begun the arbitration process. Given that the legislation contemplates that arbitrations be conducted in private, the ACCC will not be making any further public comments at this stage.
The ACCC now has before it in excess of twenty arbitrations. During this year a number of arbitrations have been withdrawn as a consequence of the parties resolving the dispute after substantial ACCC involvement.