Mediasense not yet out of the Weko's sights

 The Competition Commission has rejected a request by Radiotele to order precautionary measures against Publisuisse's investment in Mediasense. However, it is continuing to investigate the matter. "Weko secretariat sees no need for precautionary measures against Mediasense". That was the title of a communiqué issued by TV marketer Publisuisse on October 30. In it, the SRG subsidiary triumphs over its competitors, Publigroupe subsidiary Radiotele and Goldbach subsidiary IP Multimedia, which had filed a complaint with the Competition Commission against the new marketing model of the Swiss Radio Pool (SRP). The model provides for marketing by Mediasense, a joint company of Publisuisse and SRP, whereby SRP advertising must be booked via Publisuisse's Publiplan online booking system. Publisuisse is dominant in the market and would abuse its position by entering into the brokerage of radio advertising with low prices and prescribing booking via Publiplan, the competition complained (see
Mediasense is not out of the woods yet
). Radiotele also demanded precautionary measures. Such measures have now been rejected by the Weko, writes Publisuisse, and concludes: "Mediasense can therefore implement its business model as announced. But that is only half the truth. Weko spokesman Patrik Ducrey does confirm the waiver of urgent measures. "Nevertheless, the matter is not definitely settled," he says. It is possible that normal proceedings will be opened against Publisuisse if the Weko secretariat finds that the exclusive marketing of SRP violates antitrust law. A decision will not be made until around the end of the year, Ducrey said.
Markus Knöpfli