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Moreover, there are restrictive legal regulations in Turkey as
regards to sale of broadcasting rights pertaining to football games.
Article 13 of the Law on Establishment and Duties of the Turkish
Football Federation (“LTFF”) grants the competence for broadcasting
and distribution of football games to the Board of Directors of the
Football Federation. Authority drives our attention to the competition
restrictions stipulated in the Specifications of the bid made in 2010 for
4 years by using the above referred competence.
The broadcasting rights of Turkish Super Football League have
been an issue considered important by the Competition Board and sev-
eral decisions have been concluded on this issue. These decisions have
been mentioned within the Report and the practice in Turkey has been
compared with the international practice. It is stated that it would be
convenient if the TFF Board of Directors uses its competence by not
excluding the evaluations to be made within the scope of Competition
Law. The requirement of a new regulation, which would prevent the
establishment of entry in to the market through football broadcasting
rights, is emphasized.
Equipment
As it is also mentioned in the Report, the broadcasts provided
through the platforms are generally coded and in order for the viewers
to watch these, they need certain hardware and software. The hardware
decoding the broadcast codes are defined as smart cards. The hardware
where these cards are placed and the decoding programs and software
are uploaded, are defined as set top boxes and the system where only
the customers have access to the system is defined as conditional
access system.
The Access Directive, which is the EU Regulation on this issue,
has been mentioned and the practices in different countries have been
included within the Report. Furthermore, the decisions of the
Competition Board have been discussed and it is stated that imposition
of the condition to purchase the set top boxes to consumers are dam-
aging other undertakings rights, who are active in this field and this
could also finally damage the rights of the consumers.
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NEWSLETTER 2012