Nine Entertainment Co has been penalised and will make remediation payments after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued 12 infringement notices alleging that the company charged subscribers and advertisers excessive payment surcharges.

The ACCC said six Nine subsidiaries have paid penalties totalling A$159,840. They will also provide around $450,000 in remediation payments.

According to the infringement notice, payments made between August and December 2020 using Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards attracted surcharges ranging from 90 to 155 basis points.

The ACCC alleged that these surcharges exceeded the actual cost by between 9 and 84 bps, depending on the payment method.

Merchants have had the right to recover the cost of card acceptance since 2013. In 2016 a ban on excessive surcharging was introduced.

Since then, the ACCC has issued infringement notices to Red Balloon, Cruisin’ Motorhomes, Fitness First, Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers and Europcar.