EU Files Antitrust Charges Against Six U.S. Film Studios

BRUSSELS—Europe's antitrust regulator has filed formal charges against six major U.S. film studios and U.K. pay-TV broadcaster Sky UK Ltd., warning that contracts agreed on by the companies that restrict access to Sky's services outside Britain may violate EU laws.

The six studios are Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

The charges come amid a broader push by the EU to smash down barriers to a single market for digital services in the region. Regulators are focusing in particular on eliminating so-called geo-blocking, where firms block access to films or other online content outside a particular licensed territory.

The European Commission, the bloc's top antitrust authority, said Thursday that contracts agreed between Sky and the six studios may have prevented Sky from offering its U.K. and Irish pay-TV services to EU consumers elsewhere.

If that preliminary view is confirmed, "the clauses would constitute a serious violation of EU rules that prohibit anticompetitive agreements," the EU said.

21st Century Fox Inc., which owns the Twentieth Century Fox film studio, was until last year part of the same company as Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. Sky is 39%-owned by 21st Century Fox.

"European consumers want to watch the pay-TV channels of their choice regardless of where they live or travel in the EU," the EU's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said. "Our investigation shows that they cannot do this today."

The companies involved now have a chance to respond to the EU's concerns before Brussels reaches a final decision, which can then be appealed to the EU's top courts in Luxembourg.

The EU has separately raised concerns around licensing agreements between the film studios and other major European broadcasters, including Canal Plus of France, Sky Italia of Italy, Sky Deutschland of Germany and DTS of Spain. It "continues to examine cross-border access to pay-TV services in these" countries, according to the statement.

Write to Tom Fairless at [e-mail]

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