the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection determined that TV Pols and Cyfrowy Polsat’s Teleaudio Dwa could mislead consumers about the rules, costs of participating in the New Year’s SMS contest, its course and possible prizes. – The allegations concern both the content of the verbal and graphic messages transmitted during the broadcast of the successful New Year’s concert, and the content of the SMS messages relating to the conduct of the competition and sent to the participants during its duration – reads the announcement.
Spectators at last year’s New Year’s Eve concert by Telewizja Polsat were able to take part in the SMS contest “Win 100,000 PLN or a car and additional prizes”. The hosts of the program assured: “just send an SMS with the word NEW YEAR to number 7370”, “today you play for one of these four elegant cars”, “tonight we will call only the winners”. The request to send an SMS with the note “Reg.txt.str.463” also appeared at the bottom of the screen.
According to the conclusions of the Competition and Consumer Protection Office Contrary to the messages, sending a single text message (cost PLN 3.69) did not allow participation in the game for the prizes, it was only an application to participate. Only the sending of a reply to two additional paid SMS (for the selection of the main prize and for the CAP) allowed to participate in the next phase of the competition.
In the Polsat competition, the final task was not completed until January 5
UOKiK’s announcement describes the contest participants They did not receive a message with the final task until January 5, 2022, so they had to send another SMS, already the fourth (they spent a total of 14.76 PLN). The replies to the SMS received on December 31 and January 1 allowed to participate in the game for New Year’s prizes and surprises, which is impossible to deduce from the broadcast of the program. Teletext pag. 463 mentioned in the communication during the program referred to the entire list of regulations and further action had to be taken to find the appropriate provisions.
– Consumers have the right to require that the key information relating to the contest rules, obtainable at the various stages of the prizes and the costs related to participation, be clear and not misleading. They need to be sure that they can rely on what the hosts convey to them during the live program: on this basis, they make a decision about their participation in the competition and spend money for this purpose. It is similar to competitor SMS messages: their content should be clear and understandable for consumers. If they immediately knew that the game requires them to take further steps and spend more money, they may not decide to participate – comments Tomasz Chróstny, president of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection.
If the allegations are confirmed, Telewizja Polsat and Teleaudio Dwa will face a fine of up to 10%. annual change.
Last year TV Pols increased revenues by 9.1%. to PLN 1.65 billion and an increase in operating costs of 16.4%. reached PLN 445.6 million in net profit. PLN 300 million of the profit was allocated to the payment of Cyfrowy Polsat as a dividend.
According to Nielsen Audience Measurement, Polsat’s latest New Year’s Eve concert it was followed by 3.81 million viewers, of which 3.1 million in the main Polsats, 388.4 thousand. in Polsat News and 325 thousand. in Polsat 2. The event has been held for several years at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów.
Cyfrowy Polsat Group with a series of sanctions by the Competition and Consumer Protection Office
In the spring of 2019, the Competition and Consumer Protection Office imposed fines on Polkomtel totaling PLN 39.5 million. It was about the automatic activation of the services by the company, which cost from PLN 2 to PLN 20 per month.
At the end of 2019 the sentence of the Regional Administrative Court became final repealing the decision of the Director of the Chamber of Tax Administration, under which Cyfrowy Polsat had to pay PLN 40.6 million of outstanding income tax from 2011 with interest. The court also stopped the proceedings in this case.
In December last year, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection confirmed the decision of the President of the Competition and Consumer Protection Office on penalties totaling PLN 50.6 million imposed on Polkomtel, the operator of the Plus network. The company was fined for charging additional fees for streaming audio and video as part of its internet service.
In turn, earlier this year. SOKiK retained the PLN 34.9 million fine imposed on Cyfrowy Polsat due to the fact that during the Euro 2016 football, the broadcasts from which he offered in the pay-per-view system, made it difficult for his customers to access two German channels that broadcast the matches of this tournament.
In September of this year. The Supreme Court did not accept the appeal in cassation of the manager of the telecommunications network Plus (belonging to the Cyfrowy Polsat group) against the sanction imposed on the company by the president of the Office for competition and consumer protection. Telekom paid PLN 18.4 million for deceptive recipients in the 2014 “Power LTE without data limit” campaign.
