Movie studios and Sky come under suspicion for ‘restricting access to films’

Six major U.S. studios, including Disney and Warner Bros, and British satellite broadcaster Sky UK are being hauled up for restricting access to their movies. They are being pursued by the EU executive commission, which is concerned about “contractual restrictions” that prevent Sky offering its full services to viewers beyond Britain and Ireland. The companies mentioned in the statement are NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony and Twentieth Century Fox as well as Disney, Warner Bros. “European consumers want to watch the pay-TV channels of their choice regardless of where they live or travel in the EU,” EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. “Our investigation shows that they cannot do this today.”

We believe that this may be in breach of EU competition rules.

EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager

The commission opened an antitrust investigation in January 2014 and found clauses requiring Sky UK to block access to films through its online or satellite pay-TV services to viewers outside Britain and Ireland — so-called geo-blocking. It also found that some contracts required studios to prevent their services being made available in the two countries to others than Sky — another potential restrictive practice. “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,” Vestager said. The companies now have the right to respond. There is no legal deadline for the commission to complete antitrust inquiries.