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EU: Hollywood In spotlight as probe escalates

By  |  June 2, 2015

Hollywood studios including 20th Century Fox as well as some of the European Union’s biggest pay-TV companies face an EU antitrust complaint over movie-licensing deals that regulators claim thwart cross-border competition.

EU regulators may send a so-called statement of objections to five studios and five broadcasters as soon as next month, said three people familiar with the case who asked not to be named because the matter isn’t public.

The move would escalate a 2014 probe into how contracts with EU broadcasters, including U.K.-based Sky Plc and its German and Italian units, curb the sale of movies and TV programs outside their home markets. Other film companies involved are Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Brothers unit, Sony Pictures, Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal Media and Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures.

Full content: Bloomberg

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