EU probes licensing agreements between U.S. film studios, pay TV firms
BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Monday it was opening an antitrust probe into aspects of licensing agreements between several major U.S. film studios and the largest European pay-TV broadcasters.
The Commission, the EU's antitrust watchdog, said it will examine whether licensing provisions prevent broadcasters from providing services across borders.
The EU is focusing on licensing agreements between studios including Twenty-First Century Fox, Warner Bros , Sony Pictures, NBCUniversal and Paramount Pictures and European pay-TV broadcasters such as Britain's BSkyB, France's Canal Plus (Paris: FR0000125460 - news) , Germany's Sky Deutschland (Other OTC: SKDTY - news) , Sky Italia of Italy and DTS (NasdaqGS: DTSI - news) of Spain.