This one wasn't at the Hallenstadion
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s competition watchdog Comco is to investigate the five-year agreement, which came into force early 2009, between the country’s largest ticket-seller, Ticketron, and the Hallenstadion Zurich (AGH), one of its biggest concert venues. Comco will look into the details of the agreement which obliges the organizers of events at the Hallenstadion to offer least 50 percent of the tickets for sale through Ticketcorner.
Ticketcorner has been in the sights of the Federal Competition Commission before. In 2006, after an appeal, it was absolved of monopolistic behaviour.
Update 14:15 Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Three pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Eli Lilly & Co. and Bayer AG have been fined CHF5.7 million in total for price fixing, linked to their over-the-counter erectile functioning drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. Bayer Switzerland promptly reacted, saying that it has not participated in price-fixing and has respected Swiss law. According to Dow Jones/CNN Money, the company is considering taking legal action against the decision.
The Swiss competition commissioner levied the fines saying the fixing was done using public price recommendations, which have been illegal in Switzerland since 2000.
© 2009 Swisscom
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swisscom has been handed a fine for CHF 219 million for alleged anti-competitive behaviour in its DSL business until 2007. The company says it will appeal the decision by the federal Competition Commission (ComCo) 5 November, arguing that Swiss consumers have ample choice in the supply of DSL service.
ComCo had argued that Swisscom, the dominant market operator and owner of most of the infrastructure, set the price it charged to its competitors too close to what it charged its customers, thus squeezing out its competitors.
Links to other sites: Romandie News, Swisscom, TSR
...and then there was one
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Competition Commission has given its blessing to the proposed sale of Edipresse’s Swiss operations to Zurich-based Tamedia on the grounds that competition is not threatened by the takeover. Edipresse, Switzerland’s third-largest media company, is based in Lausanne and its operations in Switzerland are limited to the French-speaking area. Tamedia owns media mostly in the German-speaking part of the country.
The competition authorites say that there is no significant overlap in the market coverage.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal competition commission will take a closer look at the proposed fusion of the Swiss business of the country’s second and third largest media groups, Ediresse and Tamedia.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The lower house of the Swiss parliament has voted to bring back fixed prices for books, but given that the Federal Council has said clearly it opposes the idea, the proposed legislation has an uneasy future. In practice, the Conseil national is insisting that the Federal Council review to see if it is working efficiently, every three years, a price-setting system.
