Commission confirms Sky hold on movies not anticompetitive

The UK’s Competition Commission has confirmed that Sky’s hold on the acquisition and distribution of first pay window movie rights in the UK does not adversely affect competition.

In its final report, the Commission said that Sky Movies’ grip on first window pay rights from all the major Hollywood studios was “not a sufficient driver of subscribers’ choice of pay TV provider to give Sky such an advantage over its rivals when competing for pay TV subscribers as to harm competition”.

The regulator found that consumer attached more importance to having a broad range of content and to price than to seeing recent movies. It also found that the launch of services by Netflix and Lovefilm, as well as the launch of Sky’s own online service Sky Now, had improved choice.

BSkyB said in a statement: “Following a lengthy investigation, we welcome the Competition Commission’s confirmation that there is no adverse effect on competition in relation to movies on pay TV.”