KPN had protested the new terms proposed by Fox, claiming they could violate competition law. Other operators, such as Tele2 and Caiway, have asked the competition regulator ACM to investigate the case, while Vodafone has accepted the new terms, which include adding one of Fox's premium sports channels to its basic TV package.
The other operators are concerned that the new proposal would cost them more and force an increase in prices to end-users. At the same time, the biggest pay-TV provider in the Netherlands, Ziggo is not subject to the same terms with Fox, as its carriage contract is not up for renewal until 2020.
Tele2 said the court ruling means its customers will no longer receive the Fox channels from 01 August, and it will await the decision from the ACM before agreeing to Fox's terms. NLkabel, which represents a number of smaller cable operators, said they will also await the ACM's decision and in the meantime had asked Fox to allow the transmission to continue under the same terms.
According to the court ruling, Fox asked KPN for a minimum payment based on the total number of TV subscribers at the operator. It also offered to allow KPN to include the Fox Sports channels in its basic plan at a lower cost than previously. To date, the Fox channels, which include coverage of top national and international football, have only been available in a premium package.
KPN claims the proposal represents a "significant increase" in the cost and is not in the interests of customers. Fox said it's up to the provider to decide whether it passes on the cost to customers.
KPN already increased its prices at the start of July for triple-play packages with IPTV. This was based in part on an increase in the number of channels and the addition of security software for broadband customers.
