Action brought on 24 march 2009 — Viasat Broadcasting UK v Commission

(Case T-114/09)

2009/C 141/93

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Viasat Broadcasting UK Ltd (London, United Kingdom) (represented by: S. Kalsmose-Hjelmborg and M. Honoré, lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

Pleas in law and main arguments

By this application, the applicant seeks the annulment of the Commission’s decision of 4 august 2008 in Case N 287/2008 (1) by which the Commission approved, on the basis of Article 87 (3) (c) EC rescue aid granted by the Danish State to TV 2 Danmark A/S (‘TV 2’).

The applicant submits that the aid does not comply with Article 87(3) (c) since it infringes the principle of proportionality enshrined in that provision according to which such aid must not ‘adversely affect trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest’. In particular, the applicant claims first that the Commission erred in law when it held that TV 2 constituted a ‘firm in difficulty’ within the meaning of the Community guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (2). Secondly, the applicant contends that the Commission erred in law when holding that the rescue aid was limited to what was necessary to keep TV 2 business and that aid was maintained at a level which would not allow TV 2 to invest in new activities or to behave aggressively in commercial markets. Thirdly, the applicant claims that the Commission erred in law when it failed to take into account the State aid received by TV 2 in the past.

(1)  A summary of the contested decision was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ 2009 C 9, p. 2) and a non-confidential version of the decision was made available on http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/state_aids/

(2)  Community guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (OJ 2004 C 244, p. 2)