Canal Plus Cyfrowy found guilty of unfair practice

Canal Plus Cyfrowy, operator of the Cyfra Plus digital TV platform broke the law and used unfair techniques against its competitors, the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has announced. However, despite the obvious irregularities, the company is likely to get away with the breach as during the investigation it gave up any unfair practices. According to UOKiK, the operator breached regulations by introducing the automatic extension of contracts one month before the expiry date of the previous one in the event that the subscriber did not express a wish to discontinue his subscription. According to Cezary Banasiński, the head of UOKiK, by imposing the automatic extension the operator forced its subscribers to pay for another 12 or 24 months, depending on the period specified in the original contract. The company also made its subscribers wait for repayment of their money for up to 40 days which, according to UOKiK, was unacceptable. (www.biznes.onet.pl) J.K.