In the first of what promises to be a string of actions with possible far-reaching consequences for the video content, sports, and satellite TV industries, the European Union notified the six major Hollywood Studios and Sky Broadcasting in London of the opening of a competition case against them. Far from being a trust-busting enforcement action against back-room deals, this is a far-reaching challenge to the very public (and in Europe very controversial) system of copyright licensing based on national boundaries. The Commission’s statement was forthright about the problem: “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.”
The new action should be viewed as a companion to the EU Commission’s attack on internet geo-blocking, in the context of its Digital Single Market initiative, announced in May. It is seeking to erase copyright boundaries between European nations, such that content licensed to one market is available in all.
Reactions of the studios varied sharply, with Warner Bros. saying it was cooperating fully with the probe, Universal saying it was communicating constructively with the EU, and Disney thundering that it would “oppose the proposed action vigorously.”
Two of the better commentaries on this action were published by Variety, and Home Media magazine, which noted that the EU Commission also has other European pay-TV companies in their sights.