Popular youth entertainment channel Rapture has submitted an official complaint to media regulator Ofcom about the high amount Sky charges for its EPG.

Ofcom has confirmed that an official dispute investigation was opened on Wednesday 13th September.

Rapture believes that BSkyB is charging excessively high fees for the supply of an EPG service on the UK's only DSat platform. Rapture has submitted evidence that BSkyB used to charge much lower fees for the same service.

Under the Communications Act 2006, BSkyB is required to supply the EPG service to other network providers with the EPG at a cost that reflects the cost of providing the service. It is also a requirement of the Communications Act 2006 that BSkyB must enter meaningful commercial negotiations with other network providers. Rapture TV has submitted evidence that BSkyB failed to enter meaningful commercial negotiations with Rapture TV.

Rapture TV hopes that a full investigation by regulator Ofcom will lead to an industry wide agreement on what level of fee is 'fair reasonable and non-discriminatory'. According to Rapture, BSkyB currently demands over £76,000 per free to air channel per year. Rapture TV believes the true cost of providing the service is closer to £3,400 per 'free to air channel' per year. If the investigation finds that Rapture is correct then it could lead to a more competitive market place, increasing consumer choice and prevent further anti-competitive practices.