British expats living in Gibraltar could be about to lose their favourite television shows following a row between broadcasters.
Two of the country’s biggest telecom companies, state-owned Gibtelecom and GibFibre, have been arguing over the former’s claims it is illegally providing English language services without a licence.
Lawyers for Gibtelecom have accused GibFibre and its sister company GibSat of conspiring to harm Gibtelecom’s business interests by selling TV services in a bundle with its broadband packages.
They have now applied for an injunction to shut down access to TV channels including BBC 1, ITV and Sky through GibSat.
If the injunction succeeds it will leave expats in the country without the likes of Match of the Day, Love Island and the Traitors.
In response to the legal challenge, GibFibre branded the claims as “embarrassing” and accused its rival of launching the legal battle in retaliation for a long-running dispute over access to crucial data centres in Gibraltar, The Telegraph reports.
A GibFibre spokesman said: “GibFibre acts in the best interests of its customers and for Gibraltar by providing greater competition in the telecoms sector which increases innovation and brings down prices for everyone.
“The government-owned Gibtelecom has spent eight years trying to block us from providing competition in data services.
“Gibraltarians should not be punished with threats by the Government to cut off their access to UK TV content in retaliation for us standing up for competition and consumer rights.”
A separate legal battle between the two has been ongoing for almost a decade fter GibFibre accused Gibtelecom of denying it access to Mount Pleasant, Gibraltar’s largest data centre.
GibFibre accused its rival of anti-competitive behaviour, with a source close to the case telling the Telegraph the company was seeking £14m in damages.
Gibtelecom denies the claims, with a trial due to begin in Gibraltar’s Supreme Court on Monday.
UK expats make up 13 percent of Gibraltar’s 32,000 population making the country’s British TV market a lucrative one.
Further controversy has seen Gibfibre and Sapphire, another broadcaster, unable to access licences for a number of high-profile British TV services, but despite this they have aired them for years. Access to Sky channels was blocked in 2019 as a result of unlicensed broadcasting.
An intense public backlash meant that both companies turned the channels back on before the 48-hour blackout was over.
