CAIRO, Sept. 7 (Aswat Masriya) - The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) announced on Wednesday that its giving Qatari-owned beIN Sports TV Network a grace period of 30 days to acknowledge its violations under the monopoly law and make a plea for reconciliation.

The ECA asserted that beIN has violated the provisions of the law on protection of competition in a statement on Wednesday.

The TV network holds exclusive rights over the broadcasting of many football tournaments in Egypt, putting it in a dominant position that enables it to dictate its terms on subscribers.

According to the statement, beIN's subscription packages limit the customers' choices as it forces them to subscribe for the entire content rather than specific items.

For example, customers who wanted to watch the 2016 UEFA European Championship were forced to subscribe for a whole year to one of beIN's packages as a condition to watch it.

In addition, viewers have to use the Es'hailSat frequency instead of NileSat to view beIN Sports channels. This incurs further costs on customers and curbs competition among the different satellites, according to the statement.

ECA Director Mona al-Garf told Aswat Masriya that the authority normally gives companies a grace period to review ECA's decision so that they have enough time to submit a reconciliation request.

"The company's submission of a reconciliation request does not necessarily mean that the ECA will approve the request as there are certain rules and conditions governing the matter," Garf said.

In the case the company in question fails to submit the reconciliation request in time, it is referred to the Public Prosecutor for investigation.

Garf clarified that the reconciliation request will be considered by the ECA board for approval. If approved, the company will be required to pay fines that will be determined as a percentage of the revenues incurred from the violation. If rejected, the case is referred to the Public Prosecutor.

The company in any case is required to "remove the violation" to avoid being subjected to another penalty, Garf added.

In April, the ECA formed a working group to investigate the Consumer Protection Agency's (CPA) claim against beIN Sports.

The representative of beIN Sports in Egypt is Cable Network Egypt (CNE). During the World Cup matches of 2014, the ECA had looked into beIN Sports practices and proved that CNE abused its dominant status in the market, according to news reports.