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Justice Department Warns Academy About Changing Oscar Rules To Exclude Streaming (techcrunch.com)
The Justice Department has warned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that its potential rule changes limiting the eligibility of Netflix and other streaming services for the Oscars could raise antitrust concerns and violate competition law. From the report: According to a letter obtained by Variety, the chief of the DOJ's Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, wrote to AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson on March 21 to express concerns that new rules would be written "in a way that tends to suppress competition." "In the event that the Academy -- an association that includes multiple competitors in its membership -- establishes certain eligibility requirements for the Oscars that eliminate competition without procompetitive justification, such conduct may raise antitrust concerns," Delrahim wrote. The letter came in response to reports that Steven Spielberg, an Academy board member, was planning to push for rules changes to Oscars eligibility, restricting movies that debut on Netflix and other streaming services around the same time that they show in theaters. Netflix made a big splash at the Oscars this year, as the movie "Roma" won best director, best foreign language film and best cinematography.
Delrahim cited Section 1 of the Sherman Act that "prohibits anticompetitive agreements among competitors." "Accordingly, agreements among competitors to exclude new competitors can violate the antitrust laws when their purpose or effect is to impede competition by goods or services that consumers purchase and enjoy but which threaten the profits of incumbent firms," Delrahim wrote. He added, "if the Academy adopts a new rule to exclude certain types of films, such as films distributed via online streaming services, from eligibility for the Oscars, and that exclusion tends to diminish the excluded films' sales, that rule could therefore violate Section 1." An Academy spokesperson said, "We've received a letter from the Dept. of Justice and have responded accordingly. The Academy's Board of Governors will meet on April 23 for its annual awards rules meeting, where all branches submit possible updates for consideration."
Delrahim cited Section 1 of the Sherman Act that "prohibits anticompetitive agreements among competitors." "Accordingly, agreements among competitors to exclude new competitors can violate the antitrust laws when their purpose or effect is to impede competition by goods or services that consumers purchase and enjoy but which threaten the profits of incumbent firms," Delrahim wrote. He added, "if the Academy adopts a new rule to exclude certain types of films, such as films distributed via online streaming services, from eligibility for the Oscars, and that exclusion tends to diminish the excluded films' sales, that rule could therefore violate Section 1." An Academy spokesperson said, "We've received a letter from the Dept. of Justice and have responded accordingly. The Academy's Board of Governors will meet on April 23 for its annual awards rules meeting, where all branches submit possible updates for consideration."
It seems like award shows should be free to chose whatever they like as criteria to base awards on - just as the public can feel free to ignore award shows that choose to slide into irrelevancy... not justice department needed I should say.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
the Justice Department can be looking into . . . . .
they look into a GD AWARDS SHOW ?
Where rich and famous celebrities co-mingle and congratulate each other for the ability to cry on que ?
( Does anyone even give a sh*t and watch it ? )
Not the opioid problem.
Not the thousands of illegals streaming across the border problem.
Not the Big Pharma cranking prices of drugs up by 5000% because they're a monopoly problem.
Not the $infinitely_long_and_MUCH_MORE_IMPORTANT_list of problems they can be looking at. . .
No no no. . . . The Academy Awards :|
W-T-F
Imagine if Walmart, Target, Albertsons/Tom Thumb/Safeway, and Whole Foods / Amazon got together and came up with ways of making it harder for new companies to compete with them. It's ilegal for the established companies in a market, competitors, to collude to try to keep out new competitors.
The Motion Picture Academy is basically the major Hollywood studios; their decision to exclude Netflix and other new companies is about the major studios trying to disadvantage competition from the newer companies, according to the Justice Department.
ONE studio can do what it wants to try to cause problems for streaming services. It would be ilegal for them to collude in an anti-competitive conspiracy.
Factually, I don't know if the Academy is controlled by the major studios, but that's the law - if in fact the governors of the academy are trying to protect their employers by disadvantaging streaming services.
How is competition from Netflix and streaming different from competition from TV? Haven't telemovies already been excluded for years? I guess nobody cared because telemovies haven't been able to compete on quality in the way the movies made for streaming services now can.
During the last 30 years or so, the American industry suffered from a massive erosion in competition thanks to the endless merger-mania. The telecoms and cable industry are probably the best example, leaving most of us choosing between two or three major providers, but the same went on in other areas, for example the airlines. Our drugs are the most expensive because we don't allow imported drugs, and our health insurance market is a joke. Our government had no guts to split Microsoft, and it still has no guts to split the monsters like Google into a bunch of separate businesses.
So out of blue, they now worry about THIS? I honestly have this hard to believe. I am guessing the Amazon and Netflix lobbyists have rubbed a few right politicians.