As part of its response to the latest consultation document in Ofcom’s Pay TV market investigation, Sky today publishes an independent report by Professor Martin Cave, Professor and Director of the Centre for Management under Regulation at Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick.
Commenting on the appropriateness of Ofcom’s proposed wholesale must offer remedy in respect of Sky’s premium sport and movie channels, Professor Cave concludes:
“To summarise my conclusions, the Ofcom must-offer proposals are likely to have adverse effects on economic efficiency and consumer welfare which the regulator does not adequately acknowledge.”
Further, Professor Cave states:
“wholesale premium channels are unusually inhospitable territory in which to impose such controls.”
Professor Cave is a former member of the Competition Commission. In a 25-year career in the field of regulatory economics, he has acted as an economic advisor to Ofcom between 2003 and 2006. In 1998, he advised the Director General of Fair Trading on Sky’s rate card for the supply of its TV channels to the cable industry, and acted as an expert witness for the Director in the matter of the collective selling of Premier League Rights before the Restrictive Trade Practices Court. Professor Cave has also advised the European Commission on European telecommunications regulation.
Between 2001 and 2002, Professor Cave undertook an independent review of spectrum management for the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and between 2004 and 2005 he produced an independent audit of major spectrum holdings for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. More recently, between 2008 and 2009, Professor Cave was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, to review competition and innovation in the water sector.
To download the full report please click here.
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Note To Editors
1. Terms of engagement
In order to ensure the Cave Report was prepared with the same degree of independence and integrity as an expert would prepare a report in connection with litigation proceedings, Sky’s external legal advisers have engaged Professor Cave under the terms of the Civil Procedure Rules and the protocol for instruction of experts.
2. Professor Martin Cave, B.A., BPhil, DPhil - biographical details
Principal Academic Employment to Date
2001 to date Professor and Director, Centre for Management under Regulation,
Warwick Business School, University of Warwick.
1996 to 2001 Vice-Principal (Deputy Vice Chancellor), Brunel University.
1994 to 1996 Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Brunel University.
1989 to 1994 Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Brunel University.
1974 to 1987 Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Professor of Economics, Brunel
University.
Principal Advisory Activities
Appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport to chair an expert panel on airport regulation, 2008.
Appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs to review competition and innovation in the water sector, 2008.
Member, UK Payments Council, 2007-2010.
Appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to undertake an independent review of the regulation of social housing, 2006-2007.
Appointed special adviser to European Commissioner Reding on the reform of European telecommunications regulation 2006.
Appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to conduct an independent audit of major spectrum holdings, December 2004 - November 2005.
Adviser to the Lord Chancellor’s Department on reforms in legal regulation 2004-2005.
Economic Advisor to OFCOM, 2003-2006.
Non-Executive Advisory Director at OFWAT, 2001-2005.
Appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to undertake an independent review of spectrum management, 2001-2002.
Member, UK Competition Commission, 1996-2002.
Economic Adviser, part-time, at HM Treasury, 1986-1990.