Competition Commission to investigate BSkyB’s movie monopoly
BSkyB is set for a showdown with the Competition Commission over claims that the pay TV broadcaster has an unfair monopoly over Hollywood films.
Rival broadcasters BT and Virgin Media have been pressing the regulator to curtail Sky’s dominance of the market on the grounds that competitors were being stifled.
Sky has signed long term exclusive contracts with all six Hollywood studios at a cost of around £280m a year – more than the programming budgets for its in-house news and entertainment channels.
It means that Sky channels can show films such as Tron, Shrek and Inception exclusively for 15 months on their subscription services.
Rival broadcasters are limited to a 45 day window after a films theatrical release on a pay per view basis.
Preliminary findings posted by the Commission suggest that the price at which Sky sells wholesale rights to rival broadcasters is too high and may be lowered, allowing competitors to build up their subscription bases.
Also on the cards are new rules governing the proportion of content which studios can hand over to any one broadcaster.
The regulator publicises its findings in mid-August.