The European Commission has started a probe into the high price of DVDs -- Digital Video Discs which allow people to watch movies -- in the European Union, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti would tell a meeting of consumers in Stockholm on Monday that the EU had written to Hollywood film companies asking them about DVD pricing policies, the FT said in its unsourced report. The Commission was examining how DVDs were often far cheaper in the United States than the EU, and would see whether film companies were engaging in anti-competitive practices, the newspaper said.

The DVD report follows a European Commission inquiry into the pricing of CDs, which are often more expensive in the European Union than in America. The report did not name film companies which would come under investigation by the European Commission