The studios – Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. – have agreements in place with Sky UK to stop EU consumers from viewing online and pay-TV content available in the UK.
Advertisement
“Our investigation shows that they can not do this today”.
The Commission said in a statement that each of the six studios and Sky UK had agreed contractual restrictions preventing EU consumers outside Britain and Ireland from accessing Sky UK content.
BRUSSELS The European Commission charged Sky UK (SKYB.L) and six major U.S. film studios on Thursday with illegally limiting access across the European Union to movies shown on pay-TV channels.
The Commission, which wields vast powers when it comes to antitrust and anticompetitive practices in the EU, confirmed it is also looking into similar cases including Canal Plus of France, Sky Italia of Italy, Germany’s Sky Deutschland and DTS of Spain.
Certain clauses eliminate cross-border competition between pay-TV broadcasters and partition the market along national borders, the Commission said.
The EU says the studios and Sky unfairly prevent consumers located elsewhere in Europe accessing pay-TV services available in the United Kingdom and Ireland. As part of its ongoing enquiry, we have received a statement setting out the Commission’s preliminary views.
Confirming that it had received the EU objections, NBC Universal said “we will have the opportunity to formally respond to the statement and are communicating constructively with the European Commission”.
Advertisement
The charges are the newest in a series made by the EU’s steely new competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, fresh from taking on internet giant Google and Russian energy behemoth Gazprom.
