The European Commission is inviting comments from interested parties on commitments offered by Paramount Pictures to address competition concerns relating to contractual clauses preventing the cross-border provision of pay-TV services. In particular, the Commission has concerns relating to clauses in certain bilateral agreements between six major film studios, including Paramount Pictures, and Sky UK under which the studios license their output of films over a certain period of time for pay-TV to Sky UK.
These clauses appear to prevent Sky UK from allowing EU consumers located elsewhere to access, via satellite or online, pay-TV services available in the UK and Ireland. Some agreements also contain clauses requiring the studios to ensure that, in their licensing agreements with broadcasters other than Sky UK, these broadcasters are prevented from making their pay-TV services available in the UK and Ireland.
The Commission’s preliminary view, as outlined in the Statement of Objections sent in July 2015, is that these clauses eliminate cross-border competition between pay-TV broadcasters and partition the Single Market across national borders. To address the Commission’s competition concerns, Paramount Pictures has offered commitments that would apply throughout the European Economic Area. Interested parties can submit comments within one month from today. If the market test indicates that the commitments are a satisfactory way of addressing the Commission’s competition concerns, the Commission may adopt a decision making the commitments legally binding on Paramount Pictures.
