US Dept of Justice Warns Oscars Excluding Streaming May Violate Antitrust Laws

The Motion Picture Academy's initiative has been spearheaded by Steve Spielberg and is perceived to be aimed primarily at Netflix.

The reaction against the potential threat posed by new technology has been a consistent feature of the film industry over the years, from silents to talkies, black and white to color, theaters to television, DVDs and now streaming. The industry always capitulates and ends up making more money than ever before.

That the current Department of Justice has become involved is seen primarily as a political threat targeting Hollywood, which has traditionally supported more liberal politicians. JL


Anthony Ha reports in Tech Crunch:

The DOJ has sent the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences a letter expressing concern about potential changes to the eligibility requirements for the awards. The letter says, “In the event that the Academy - an association that includes multiple competitors in its membership - establishes eligibility requirements for the Oscars that eliminate competition without procompetitive justification, such conduct may raise antitrust concerns.”

It seems that the Department of Justice has thoughts on whether Netflix movies should be eligible for Oscars.

Variety reports that the DOJ has sent the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences a letter expressing concern about potential changes to the eligibility requirements for the awards.
Why is this something the DOJ would worry about? Apparently the letter says, “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.”
This comes after Netflix’s “Roma” was seen as a frontrunner for this year’s Best Picture award. And although it ultimately lost out to “Green Book,” the movie still took home Oscars for Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography.
Director Steven Spielberg is reportedly pushing for changes to the Oscar rules, perhaps by creating a requirement that movies play exclusively in theaters for four weeks in order to be eligible.
Spielberg hasn’t said anything publicly about these reports, and movie executive Jeffrey Katzenberg claimed that Spielberg told him, “I absolutely did not say that.” But it’s spurred a broader discussion about Netflix’s impact on the film business, and seems to have prompted Netflix to declare in a tweet, “We love cinema” — while also highlighting some of the ways the service makes movies more accessible.
Variety says the Academy confirmed that it has received a letter. (Update: The Academy has confirmed this to us as well.) Its Board of Governors will hold its annual award rules meeting