
Antitrust rules barring studios from owning movie theaters were swept aside Friday after a federal judge approved an effort by the Justice Department to do away with the Paramount Consent Decrees, reported Variety.
These laws have been in effect since the golden age of movies. They were intended to break up the stranglehold that major studios such as Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Paramount once maintained on the business by preventing them from owning both the means of production and distribution. Other studios, however, such as the Walt Disney Company and Lionsgate, which became distributors after the law went into effect, were not subject to the rules.
The move comes after the department proposed eliminating the regulations last fall, noting that they were anachronistic and failed to predict the complex ways that various forms of entertainment are made and distributed.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres found “…that termination of the Decrees is in the public interest.”
Featured News
EU Civil Society Groups and Labor Unions Raise Alarm Over Proposed Changes to GDPR
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
EU Antitrust Regulators Push Back Deadline on UniCredit’s Takeover Bid for Banco BPM
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Intel Challenges €376 Million EU Fine in Ongoing Antitrust Dispute
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Red Bull Challenges EU Commission Over Lengthy Antitrust Inspection
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Live Nation Under Criminal Antitrust Investigation Over Pandemic-Era Refund Policies
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Healthcare Antitrust
May 14, 2025 by
CPI
Healthcare & Antitrust: What to Expect in the New Trump Administration
May 14, 2025 by
Nana Wilberforce, John W O'Toole & Sarah Pugh
Patent Gaming and Disparagement: Commission Fines Teva For Improperly Protecting Its Blockbuster Medicine
May 14, 2025 by
Blaž Višnar, Boris Andrejaš, Apostolos Baltzopoulos, Rieke Kaup, Laura Nistor & Gianluca Vassallo
Strategic Alliances in the Pharma Sector: An EU Competition Law Perspective
May 14, 2025 by
Christian Ritz & Benedikt Weiss
Monopsony Power in the Hospital Labor Market
May 14, 2025 by
Kevin E. Pflum & Christian Salas