Wow, this could shake things up in the industry.
DOJ moves to scrap decades-old movie distribution rules
Nov. 18, 2019 5:46 PM ET|About: AMC Entertainment Holdings... (AMC)|By: Jason Aycock, SA News Editor
The Justice Dept. is moving to throw out the "Paramount decrees" -- which would upend decades of regulations covering movie distribution.
It's proposing an end to 70-year-old consent decrees that prohibited film studios from owning theaters.
Those decrees are a relic of the past, antitrust chief Makan Delrahim said in a speech to the American Bar Association.
"We have determined that the decrees, as they are, no longer serve the public interest, because the horizontal conspiracy — the original violation animating the decrees — has been stopped," Delrahim said.
In particular, those decrees clamped down on "block booking" -- selling multiple films as a package rather than separately -- and "circuit dealing," where studios have one contract with all theaters under a single circuit. Bans on those two practices now face a two-year sunset period.
In practice, it could mean more rapid consolidation of theater ownership into majors; about half of America's 40,000 movie screens are controlled by three exhibitors: AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC), Regal Cinemas/Cineworld (OTC:CNWGY) and Cinemark Holdings (NYSE:CNK). After hours: AMC +1.5%; CNK +1.2%.
Major film studio owners: DIS, CMCSA, VIA/VIAB, T, SNE.