A combinatorial auction to sell TV broadcasting rights in league sports

David Henriques

Telecommunications Policy, 2023, vol. 47, issue 6

Abstract: The centralized sale of TV broadcasting rights in league sports constitutes a cartel which in many European countries is allowed only if it complies with certain conditions set by competition authorities. Two of the most important conditions are: i) partial unbundling, i.e. the rights must be unbundled into several separate packages; and ii) the no-single-buyer rule, i.e. the packages must be sold to different broadcasters. This article shows how a combinatorial auction can be employed to sell broadcasting rights allocating them endogenously based on the broadcasters’ bids and, thus, without requiring the seller to pre-determine the packages of such rights. This feature can address various competition policy issues, including facilitating market entry and preventing coordination among bidders. Also, a combinatorial auction has the potential to achieve higher levels of allocative efficiency and higher revenue levels compared to auctions with pre-determined packages of broadcasting rights.

Keywords: Auctions; Competition policy; League sports; Packages; TV broadcasting rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102539

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