The Competition Appeals Tribunal has held its first case management conference in the appeal by Rapture against a ruling by Ofcom, which concluded that charges levied by BSkyB for the provision of electronic programme guide (EPG) services between November 2005 and November 2006 were fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. Rapture claims that Ofcom did not conduct a thorough investigation and defined the scope of the dispute too narrowly. The CAT granted permission for BSkyB to intervene in the case but only on condition that their intervention be limited to the grounds contained in the notice of appeal and on matters relating to confidentiality.

It was not the best start for Rapture who seemed to think this was a judicial review case and not a case on the merits, something the CAT was quick to correct “It may be that you need to think about that, because possibly you have misunderstood the legislation” [Section 195 of the Communications Act]

A further case management conference is penned in for 24 July.