Overview
- The European Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling on Thursday, 9 July 2026, saying Sky Austria’s streaming offer has a “dynamic character” and must be treated as a digital service rather than a one‑off digital download.
- The court tied the ‘dynamic character’ to personalization features such as tracking watched programmes, recommendations, favorites lists and other adaptations to user behaviour.
- As digital services, such subscriptions generally cannot exclude the EU 14‑day withdrawal right and customers must be given an appropriate reflection period to test the service.
- The EuGH said providers may claim an appropriate compensation when a customer withdraws and that compensation can be based on the length of use or, where relevant, the economic value of viewed content.
- The ruling is preliminary so the Austrian court that referred the question must make the final national decision and streaming companies across the EU are expected to review and change their terms and technical practices to comply.