The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has found that Bell Mobility gave itself a significant competitive advantage by entering into exclusive agreements for the mobile rights to popular NHL and NFL content. “Canadians shouldn’t be forced to subscribe to a wireless service from a specific company to access their favourite content,” said Konrad von […]
Italy’s Authority for Competition and Markets has issued two fines totalling €380,000 to pay-TV operator Sky Italia for “unfair business practices”. The main focus of the investigation was the management of cancellation requests from subscribers and charging for calls to a help centre. According to the Authority’s weekly bulletin, Sky Italia “continued to charge its […]
Influential US trade body the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has commended Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Ron Wyden and a group of bipartisan lawmakers for introducing The Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act. The CEA suggests this bill addresses the problem of foreign infringing web sites and is a strong alternative to […]
US House of Representatives Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Senator Ron Wyden have published the text of their online piracy bill. The measure is aimed at offering an alternative to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act currently in front of the House Judiciary Committee. The Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act […]
BskyB finance director Andrew Griffith told the UBS conference the Competition Commission’s judgment that Sky Movies is anti-competitive in on-demand movies “was perplexing… The movies market has never been more competitive.” “Sky has never traded on exclusivity. Every movie that’s ever been on Sky Movies has had a theatrical release and has been in Asda […]
A Washington, DC, technology innovation think tank has released a study refuting claims that Congress’s efforts against online piracy would “break the Internet” and usher in censorship, suggesting these are “completely unfounded and without merit”. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation study addresses criticism of the proposed PROTECT IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy […]
A bipartisan group of US House and Senate lawmakers has released a draft proposal to address their concerns over controversial House and Senate bills that would crack down on piracy and counterfeit products on foreign websites. Their draft proposes an alternative to a Senate bill known as the Protect IP Act, authored by Senate Judiciary […]
Sky Italia says the current Italian scheme to allocate new digital frequencies is flawed and biased in favour of the two major network incumbents, public broadcaster RAI and Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset. Sky Italia has now faced Italy’s new Prime Minister Mario Monti with having to make a decision whether to change the rules – and […]
The Dutch government is to proceed with legislation to introduce a ban on the downloading of music and films via illegal websites, despite widespread opposition in parliament. The legislation would give people whose copyright has been infringed the right to go to court to claim compensation. This is already the case for games and software […]
Belgium’s Telenet cable operator has been fined €250,000 by the country’s regulator for not being clear in its advice as to how consumers could change suppliers. Telenet changed its operating terms and conditions on October 1st 2010 but failed to be clear and transparent in giving obligatory advice as to how subscribers could switch to […]