Shoppers hit back on prices
The Commerce Commission has received 31 complaints about supermarket pricing and promotions in the last six weeks.
A Countdown shopper complained to the commission this week after he came across legs of lamb advertised as ‘‘better than half price’’ when the label suggested otherwise.
The lamb was marked down to $10.40/kg with a saving advertised of $12.10/kg. But the actual marked price on the lamb showed the regular price was $11.90/kg.
‘‘Normally I don’t care about pricing errors, but this seems pretty egregious. The price they charge is not far off an ordinary price, so it’s blatantly false to claim that it’s 50% off,’’ he said.
A Countdown spokesperson said its lamb price in the North Island this week was $10.40kg, down from a usual retail price of $22.50.
‘‘Unfortunately there was a mistake with the in-store ticketing put on the product, although the ‘better than half price’ claim was correct. We have been in touch with the team, and they have now fixed the issue.’’
Commerce Commission general manager fair trading Vanessa Horne said that since November 1 the commission had received 12 inquiries related to Countdown’s pricing and promotional practices and 19 related to Foodstuff brands New World, Pak’nSave and Four Square.
This included the allegation made about conduct by Countdown Palmerston North.
‘‘We have not yet assessed this specific inquiry and therefore cannot comment as to the nature of the ‘sale’ and whether it potentially raises a concern under the Fair Trading Act.
‘‘However, as with all inquiries and as part of our assessment process, we are reviewing the information received.’’
While businesses can set their own prices for products and services, it is important that they make sure the pricing is clear, accurate and genuine, she said.
‘‘If a business advertises a product at ‘half price’ or on ‘special’, then this must be genuine, unambiguous and not promoted in a way that entices consumers to make a purchase believing it offers a better discount than it really does.’’
Otherwise, it risks misleading consumers and breaching the Fair Trading Act.
An example of where the commission had taken action against this conduct was in its recent Strandbags case, where the bag retailer was fined $780,000 for misleading consumers with its discounting and sales practices.
Earlier in the year Countdown said it was looking to rolling out electronic price labels in more stores to avoid issues like this. The electronic system allows shelf labels to update automatically when there is a price change.
Meanwhile, Foodstuffs has moved to reduce the different types of pricing tickets, and shifted away from more frequent use of promotions to a standard ‘‘everyday low price’’ scheme.
It also agreed with the Commerce Commission’s recommendation in its final grocery sector report to mandate the consistent display of unit pricing to help consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.
Sky TV has won back the rights to Formula 1, which will allow it to broadcast and stream races starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix in March.
Sky made the announcement on the same day that Spark announced it would close down its Spark Sport streaming service, which had previously had the rights to the world’s top motor sport.
Spark secured the rights to Formula 1 racing and a raft of other motor sports in 2018, billing it as one the top attractions of its Spark Sport streaming service which it launched the following year.
But Spark announced yesterday it would shut down Spark Sport during the second half of next year and transfer its extensive cricket rights to TVNZ.
Spark also expects to transfer most of its remaining rights, which include the right to show UEFA Champions League football in the 2023-24 season, to TVNZ.
But its rights to Formula 1 terminate anyway at the end of this year.
Sky said it had secured rights to Formula 1 for ‘‘multiple years’’ in a deal that would see all races shown on Sky’s platforms from January ‘‘along with support content and analysis from Sky UK’s world-class team’’.
It promised to show the Melbourne Grand Prix and highlights of each F1 race free-to-air. Sky owns free-to-air channel Prime.
Sky chief executive Sophie Maloney said it knew from its research that many of its customers
Spark will shut down its Spark Sport streaming service and expects TVNZ will take over most of its broadcasting rights from July.
TVNZ said it had so far agreed to broadcast Black Caps, White Ferns and Super Smash matches for three years, from the start of the 2023 season until the end of the 2025-26 season, on its free-to-air channels TV One and Duke. It would also livestream the more than 300 cricket fixtures that it now had rights to on TVNZ+, it said.
TVNZ sport manager Melodie Robinson said having a major sport such as cricket free-to-air was ‘‘a huge win for all New Zealanders’’.
‘‘History shows us that the more our communities can access sports in a viewing capacity, the more likely they are to get out there and participate in sports themselves.’’
TVNZ would not disclose how much it would pay for the offloaded cricket rights but confirmed its interest in other rights held by Spark
Sophie Maloney Sky chief executive
were very keen for it to get Formula 1 back on Sky. ‘‘We also expect it to attract new customers, particularly and said it was committed to broadcasting anything it did pick up from Spark free-to-air.
Chief among the other rights TVNZ could pick up is the UEFA Champions League football in the season starting in August, before Spark’s rights end the following year.
The closure of Spark Sport will result in Spark writing off $52 million from its operating profit this year, though it will still report a bumper profit thanks to an agreement to sell a majority stake in its cellphone towers in a lease-back deal.
Spark said the decision to exit sports had been triggered by escalating content rights costs and a ‘‘broader range of investment opportunities across its business’’.
It had also been faced with the cost of securing a new streaming platform as the current system it licences from US firm Istreamplanet would no longer be available to third parties such as Spark from the second half of next year, it said.
TVNZ content director Kate Slater said it was a ‘‘great opportunity’’ for the state-owned to our streaming service Sky Sport Now,’’ she said.
‘‘Our commitment to attracting broadcaster. ‘‘We have been back in sport for the last few years. It is a big part of our content strategy because we know it drives big live audiences.’’ But Slater said it had been a long time since the domestic rights to any national sports code had been available free-to-air, noting TVNZ last had the rights to cricket in the 1998-99 season.
Spark chief executive Jolie Hodson said Spark would be looking to redeploy staff currently involved with Spark Sport in other parts of the business. ‘‘It has been challenging to reach the scale we aspired to across the Spark Sport platform, with Covid causing major disruption to sporting codes globally a year after launch. That slower than expected start, coupled with the escalating costs of content rights globally, makes it difficult to justify the type of investment Spark Sport requires,’’ she said.
Spark’s withdrawal from the streaming market removes the only major competitor to Sky TV in the pay-TV sports market.
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new and diverse sports fans and to delivering to all New Zealanders, is also clear in the free-to-air aspects of this deal,’’ she said.
Formula 1 media rights director Ian Holmes said viewership of Formula 1 races on TV and at the races had ‘‘reached new heights’’ this year.
‘‘2023 will be bigger again,’’ he said.
‘‘Our commitment to . . . delivering to all New Zealanders is also clear in the free-to-air aspects.’’