The European Commission is poised to launch a formal antitrust probe into sales of pay-TV rights to screen premium sports and Hollywood blockbusters, "in a groundbreaking move that builds on a test case brought by a British pub landlady," according to Barker & Thomas of the FINANCIAL TIMES. People familiar with the case said that a formal European Commission investigation "could smash open the country-by-country licensing that has dominated the sales of exclusive pay-TV content such as live football and newly-released movies." The regulatory attack on restrictions that carve the EU market into national patches "follows a European Court of Justice ruling in 2011 regarding Karen Murphy, a publican from Portsmouth who had been fined for showing football to customers using a satellite card from Greece." EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia last year sanctioned a "fact finding" effort in light of the ruling to see whether barriers to cross-border access merited antitrust scrutiny and possible enforcement action. Full details of the probe "remain unclear." But "it will potentially have ramifications for football competitions such as the Premier League and Hollywood studios." While the investigation could potentially bring down EU barriers, "it touches on highly sensitive political debates over the rights to audiovisual content and could have serious implications for the industry." A person familiar with the probe said, "This is a major look at the TV market in Europe" (FT, 11/22).
