Sky Movies gets the all-clear in pay-TV movies market

The Competition Commission (CC) announced on Thursday morning that Sky's position in the pay-TV movies market does not adversely affect competition, something which the satellite broadcaster's owner, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), has welcomed.

Sky Movies, which offers the first pay movies of all the biggest Hollywood studios, "is 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 CC said in a press release on its website.

The regulator said that consumers attach importance to other serve attributes, such as having access to a broad range of content and to price than they do to seeing recent movie content. What's more, the launch of online DVD-rental services from Netflix and LOVEFiLM have increased competition and choice, the CC added.

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Meanwhile, with Sky launching Sky Movies on Now TV, consumers have the choice for the first time to subscribe to the service separately from their subscription to other pay-TV content (from whichever provider).

"We have seen significant change in pay-TV movie services in the course of our inquiry and have considered the implications of these developments carefully in reaching our final views," said Chairman of the Inquiry Group, Laura Carstensen.

"It is clear that consumers now have a much greater choice than they had a couple of years ago when our investigation began," she said.

Meanwhile, BSkyB released a statement saying that it was pleased with the decision, it considers there to be "overwhelming evidence that UK consumers are well served by strong competition between a growing number of TV providers, including those offering movies.

"As this dynamic marketplace continues to evolve, we remain committed to innovating for customers so that UK consumers continue to benefit from choice, value and innovation."

However, despite Sky's position in the first pay movie content industry being OK'ed by the regulator, Carnstensen highlighted the CC's opinion that the pay-TV retail market overall remains "ineffective".

"We note that, were there to be a material change in the circumstances which have led us to our findings, this might warrant renewed scrutiny of these issues. We also note that Ofcom has sought separately to remedy Sky's position with regard to sports content," she said.

BC