Nine to pay over $600,000 following excessive surcharges

Subsidiaries of Nine Entertainment Co have paid $159,840 in penalties in response to infringement notices issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for allegedly charging subscribers and advertisers excessive payment surcharges.

The ACCC revealed that six subsidiaries of Nine were issued with notices for alleged offenses dating back to December 2018 when Nine merged with Fairfax Media.

At that time, Nine applied payment surcharges to digital and home delivery subscription services as well as radio, publishing, TV and digital advertising. Nine has since undertaken steps to rectify the matter with customers and advertisers, including removing surcharges for Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards for all subscription payments.