Italian judge rules against Sky STB policy

Sky Italy is not allowed to impose the use of its own satellite receivers to its subscribers, according to a ruling by a judge in Naples. This is the result of a case against the pay-TV operator started by an Italian consumer organisation on behalf of a Sky customer.

The customer had bought a satellite receiver, but was faced by a decision of Sky Italia in 2005 to switch its encryption system to VideoGuard and at the same time prescribing the type of receiver needed to continue to receive the Sky channels.

Hence the protest of the client, who, in the words of his lawyer Angelo Pisani, “is in possession of a better receiver that has more channels and more features, is also convinced that the action of Sky puts not only a question of breach of contract, but a competition problem. Because with this move in practice Sky holds the monopoly of the decoder. ”

The magistrate ordered Sky to supply their signal to this viewer, plus to pay damages estimated at €500. According to Pisani, this ruling only applies to this particular customer and can not be applied to other Italian consumers.

Although this ruling is not the result of a class action, it poses an interesting question: do pay-TV operators have the right to impose certain types of receivers to their customers? Interestingly, the judge in Naples ruled under the existing law, that Sky was not allowed to act in this manner.

In Germany, the Bundeskartellamt is now looking into the same practices of pay-TV and cable operators Premiere, KDG and Unitymedia. This could very well be the prelude to new regulation – at least in some countries – concerning open access to the receiver market using CI systems.