Europe Accused Movie makers and UK Broadcaster of Blocking Access
The European commission accused 6 Hollywood studios and Sky broadcaster of using anti-competitive barriers that prevent people from watching movies of their choice. The EC accused the biggest pay-TV broadcaster in the United Kingdom and major Hollywood moviemakers of signing bilateral agreements that prevent people outside the UK from accessing Sky’s full range of programming.
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The European commission has sent a statement of objections to Sky UK and a number of Hollywood studios: Disney, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Brothers. The European commissioner in charge of competition claimed that European citizens want to watch the pay-TV channel regardless of where they live in the EU, which they cannot do today, because licensing agreements between the movie studios and Sky UK don’t allow users in other EU countries to access Sky’s pay-TV services. This may breach the EU competition rules, and the companies could be fined 10% of their annual turnover.
The European commission also aims to ensure that the EU consumers are able to watch TV from any part of the continent, and therefore it challenges the right of Hollywood studios to sell their content separately in different European states. The EC recently unveiled its plan for a digital single market across Europe.
The EU’s competition investigations also include similar cases against Canal Plus of France, DTS of Spain, Sky Deutschland of Germany and Sky Italia of Italy. These cases have exposed the use of the so-called “geo-blocking” – this is when the companies restrict access to content based on geographical location. As a result, the Commission discovered clauses that required Sky UK to block access to movies using geo-blocking. The broadcaster acknowledged the receipt of the objections from the European Commission. The company promised to consider it and respond in due course. As for Hollywood studios, they did not respond.
After targeting 6 big Hollywood companies, the EC risks raised concerns in the US, where there is already suspicion about EU trade regulation. American companies, especially tech multinational corporations, have always been a particular target for the European Commission.
The investigation against Sky and movie studios is open-ended with no legal deadline for completion. It can be noted that similar cases have stretched over years.
