Amsterdam, 22/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 22 April, the European Commission announced that it was looking for responses to the proposed commitments of Paramount Pictures, to respond to concerns regarding contractual causes blocking the cross-border provision of pay-TV services.
In July 2015, the European Commission sent a statement of objections to Sky UK and six major American cinema studios (Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros) on the subject.
Under these commitments, which would be applicable for five years throughout the European Economic Area, Paramount Pictures, when licensing its audiovisual content, would not introduce contractual obligations which would prevent a pay-TV broadcaster from responding to unsolicited requests from consumers outside the broadcaster's licensed territory (no 'broadcaster obligation') or prevent broadcasters outside the licensed territory from responding to unsolicited requests from consumers within the licensed territory. Paramount would alsoundertake not to bring legal proceedings in the event of a violation of an existing 'broadcast obligation'. (Original in French by Elodie Lamer)