23rd Jul 2015 13:34
LONDON (Alliance News) - The European Commission on Thursday sent a statement of objections to the UK arm of Sky PLC and six US film studios, charging the companies with illegally limiting access across the European Union to movies shown on pay-TV channels.
The EC said it has taken the preliminary view that each of the studios - Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros - and Sky UK bilaterally agreed to put in place contractual restrictions which prevent Sky UK from allowing consumers in the EU located outside of the UK and Ireland from accessing pay-TV services available in Britain.
Without these restrictions, Sky would be free to decide on commercial grounds whether to sell its pay-TV services to consumers outside the UK and Ireland who request access.
Should the EC's preliminary position be confirmed, each of the companies would have breached European competition rules prohibiting any anti-competitive agreements, the commission said.
"European consumers want to watch the pay-TV channels of their choice regardless of where they live or travel in the EU. Our investigation shows that they cannot do this today, also because licensing agreements between the major film studios and Sky UK do not allow consumers in other EU countries to access Sky's UK and Irish pay-TV services, via satellite or online. We believe that this may be in breach of EU competition rules. The studios and Sky UK now have the chance to respond to our concerns," said Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition policy.
Sky shares were up 0.7% to 1,143.00 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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