Broadcasters fined £4 million for freelance rate-fixing

RATE-FIXING by freelance journalists' clients is illegal. On 21 March four companies – BT, ITV, the BBC and production company IMG – admitted the offence and agreed to pay fines totalling £4,240,356 for colluding to fix rates for sports reporters and camera operators. Sky was exempted from a financial penalty because it alerted the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to its involvement before the investigation had been launched.

An unattended camera in a sport stadium

Image © CC-BY

The CMA found 15 instances of companies unlawfully sharing information about pay with each other, including day rates and pay rises. It reports that one of the business told another that they have “no intention of getting into a bidding war” but “want to be aligned and benchmark the rates”. The guilty pleas are, then, unsurprising.

The Freelance is enquiring of the CMA and others whether there is any possibility of redress for affected freelances.

The CMA announced on the same day that it is closing a separate investigation relating to non-sports TV production and broadcasting. The companies under investigation were BBC, Hartswood Films, Hat Trick Productions, ITV, Red Planet Pictures, Sister Pictures and Tiger Aspect Productions.

No compensation, yet

12 April 2025 We are informed that victim surcharges under the Sentencing Act 2020 do not apply to breaches of competition law. This was far from clear from the Act.

It seems that freelances found by the CMA to have been victims of price fixing could in principle bring civil action. That would depend on having the funds to pay lawyers; being able to obtain insurance against the other side's costs in the event that the case was lost; and being guaranteed not to be put on a shit-list.

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