EU Opens Antitrust Case Against Sky, U.S. Studios

BRUSSELS: The European Commission has filed antitrust charges against Sky UK and six Hollywood studios regarding the restriction of access to content within the European Union.

The studios named in the Statement of Objections sent by the European Commission are Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. The case asserts that these studios and Sky UK agreed to contractual restrictions that prevent Sky UK from allowing EU consumers located elsewhere to access pay-TV services available in the U.K. and Ireland. As a result, these clauses would grant "absolute territorial exclusivity" to Sky UK and/or other broadcasters, therefore impacting cross-border competition. If the claims are found to be true, each of the companies would have breached EU competition rules prohibiting anti-competitive agreements.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy, 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."