The
EU Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, has started an
investigation into allegations of price fixing of American
films on DVDs sold within Europe. The investigation was
commissioned following complaints from consumers about the
price difference between DVDs sold in America and Europe.
Even if you do manage to purchase a DVD in the States, the
chances are that it won't work in European hardware. The
EU Competition Commissioner has written to the major Hollywood
film companies demanding their policy on pricing. The film
companies have stated that they divide the world into the
specific regions to reduce piracy and increase the efficiency
of royalty collections. The results of this investigation
should be out by the end of the year.
Comment: The interesting point of this article is
the incompatability of the American DVDs with European hardware.
This does beg the question about whether the manufacturers
of DVD players are involved in the price fixing as well.
The EU Competitions Commissioner also released the report
of the investigations of CD pricing in Europe. A similar
method of writing to the record companies and major retailers
revelaed that although there was evidence of price manipulation,
receiving a letter from the EU stopped this practice. We
should be able see for ourselves how effective this letter
writing campaign really was. Watch out for the CD prices
in your local supermarket.
