Italian regulator fines Mediaset, Sky over soccer TV rights

(Adds Mediaset to appeal, Sky (LSE: BSY.L - news) acknowledges ruling)

By Stephen Jewkes and Giulia Segreti

MILAN, April 20 (Reuters) - Mediaset (LSE: 0NE1.L - news) and Sky Italia, a unit of Sky Plc, have been fined 55.4 million euros ($62.7 million) by Italy's antitrust authority for breaching competition laws during the 2014 sale of soccer TV rights, the authority said on Wednesday.

The two broadcasters were accused of creating a cartel to carve up the rights to show matches of the top eight Italian teams in the 2015-2018 seasons, squeezing out competitors.

In a statement, the competition watchdog said it had fined the pay TV unit of Mediaset 51.4 million euros. Sky Italia, whose largest shareholder is media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, was fined 4 million euros.

Mediaset, controlled by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, said it was shocked at the decision and would appeal, asking for an urgent suspension.

Sky acknowledged the regulator's ruling. Ahead of reading the full text, it said the watchdog had recognized Sky was not the instigator of any anti-competitive agreement.

The auction of the TV rights, worth nearly 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a season, had been delayed due to protests from rival bidders about the lack of transparency.

The watchdog launched its investigation in May last year, after the offices of the Milan-based broadcaster and satellite TV group were raided in a broader inquiry of match-rigging.

A first stage of the investigation was closed in December and the parties involved were called to respond to the findings before a panel in February.

Earlier this month, Mediaset sold pay TV unit Premium to French media giant Vivendi (LSE: 0IIF.L - news) .

The antitrust authority also fined Lega Calcio, which manages Serie A football, 1.9 million euros and its Swiss-based adviser Infront 9 million euros.

Infront will appeal the decision, a source close to the matter said.

($1 = 0.8833 euros) (Additional reporting by Giancarlo Navach and Elvira Pollina; Editing by Agnieszka Flak and Mark Potter)