Sky UK has agreed a deal with European antitrust regulators that will allow its viewers to watch content when they are in Europe.
The broadcaster joined forces with Hollywood studios NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Bros. and Sony to agree a deal with the Commission that allows European Union consumers to access the studios’ films on Sky’s service when outside Britain and Ireland.
The studios’ licensing contracts with Sky UK have a clause requiring the pay-TV network to “geoblock” their films on the European continent. However, such practices are illegal under EU competition rules.
Sky has also agreed it will no longer apply clauses in its contracts with NBCUniversal, Sony and Warner Bros. that ensured their films were not made available on rival pay services in Britain and Ireland.
In July 2015, the European Commission filed an antitrust complaint claiming that the geoblocking clause was a violation of EU law because it split up the European single market across national borders.
