AOL Time Warner and Vivendi face the music

AOL Time Warner and Vivendi have been charged with anti-competitive behaviour by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The FTC has already settled with AOL Time Warner, while Vivendi will be the subject of a hearing into allegations that the Warner and Vivendi predecessor PolyGram jointly conspired to fix prices of recordings of a Three Tenors concert in 1998.

The two companies agreed a joint venture to market and promote audio and video recordings of a concert performed by Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo ahead of the Football World Cup in Paris three years ago.

The US regulator said the two companies then agreed to not advertise or discount earlier performances by the opera singers.

The FTC said AOL Time Warner has agreed to refrain from entering similar agreements in the future. Vivendi will face an administrative trial.

Joseph Simons, director of the FTC's bureau of competition, said: "Naked price fixing agreements such as this are bad for consumers and cannot be immunized by mere association with an otherwise lawful joint venture."