The present case concerns a television broadcasted by the defendants. On 8 September 2010 the Italian Competition Authority decided to start an investigation regarding the television contents producer Publimar S.r.l. and the television supplier Canale Italia S.r.l. Proceedings were launched following a report by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and a complaint of a trader.
The defendants presented a television game, "Quiz Time", during which consumers could participate by calling an overpriced telephone number.
By encouraging consumers to participate in the game, the defendants advertised multimedia content and took advantage of the overpriced calls. The television program did not indicate clearly its promotional nature. Consumers were attracted by the possibility to easily win advertised prizes by participating in the game. In reality however, consumers did not have a real chance to participate in the quiz, let alone win any prize.
Defendant Canale claimed that it entered into a contract with defendant Publimar concerning the sale of a television space for a game/telesales. According to Canale, it never took part in the design and arrangement of the program's content. Defendant Canale also held, that it inserted the indication "teleshopping" into the program for the whole duration of broadcasting. Therefore, the defendant claimed that clear and complete information was given about the nature of the program and the costs of the call during the entire broadcasting. Defendant Canale concluded that it had no contacts with the telephone companies offering the premium phone numbers and it did not participate in the collection of relevant revenues.