EU Regulators Shift Antitrust Focus From Silicone Valley To Hollywood

The European Union's overhaul of the region's digital market has seen many major US tech companies come under fire.

is being questioned about its privacy policy,

has been accused of anticompetitive behavior and

's

ebooks market has been under the microscope. Now, the region's regulators are turning their attention to film studios, saying that some firms' licensing agreements have stood in the way of cross-country markets.

EU regulators

that several US film studios' agreements with Sky UK Ltd keep the broadcaster from providing access to certain types of content outside of the UK and Ireland. The regulators claim that the use of geo-blocking, or restricting access to content depending on a user's location, violates the region's anticompetitive laws.

Six US firms have been under fire for restricting content—

,

,

,

),

and

. Time Warner and Comcast have agreed to cooperate with the EU investigation, but Disney released a combative statement following news of the accusations saying that the company's agreement with Sky supports local industries and benefits consumers. Disney went on to say that it was opposed to the EU's intervention and that changing the way the agreements were structured would hurt consumers the most.