Reuters reports that the European Commission plans to open an antitrust probe into licensing deals between major U.S. film studios and European pay-TV broadcasters. The antitrust watchdog will examine whether licensing provisions prevent broadcasters from providing services across borders.

The EU is focusing on licensing agreements between studios including Twenty-First Century Fox, Warner Bros , Sony Pictures, NBCUniversal and Paramount Pictures and European pay-TV broadcasters such as Britain's BSkyB, France's Canal Plus, Germany's Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia of Italy and DTS of Spain.