Finland publishes a fourth reply to the European Commission regarding Sanoma Media Finland Ltd’s complaint against the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE)

The reply of 4 August 2022 by the state of Finland to the European Commission regarding Sanoma Media Finland Ltd's complaint against the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE has been made public. The version made available to the general public does not include any secret business information of Sanoma or YLE. The reply is the fourth that Finland has submitted to the Commission in relation to the complaint.

The complaint pursued by Sanoma concerns, in particular, YLE's video-on-demand services and digital learning materials. Currently, YLE produces video-on-demand services and provides them in Yle Areena. In the complainant's view, the services do not comply with EU state aid legislation.

In its reply, the state of Finland is of the opinion that YLE's on-demand video services and digital learning materials respond to users' changing needs of content services and meet the public service duty of YLE. In Finland's view, the facts and the legal assessment in Sanoma's replies are not justified.

What's next?

The Commission will assess whether Finland's replies are sufficient and decide whether to request any additional information from Finland. The processing of state aid matters in the EU may take several years and include many rounds of communication.

Inquiries

Roosa Patrakka, Senior Adviser, tel. +358 50 431 7036, roosa.patrakka(at)gov.fi

Aino Sipari, Director of Unit, tel. +358 50 326 5829, aino.sipari(at)gov.fi