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The Department of Justice warned Dawn Hudson, Executive Director of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, that any attempt to prevent Netflix and other companies from streaming video content from qualifying for an Academy award might deserve his attention, said Variety. Tuesday.
Variety obtained a letter dated March 21, 2019 from DOJ's chief antitrust officer, Makan Delrahim, in Hudson, indicating that such a rule "removes competition". He added that, while the Academy – an badociation of several competitors among its members – establishes certain conditions of Oscar eligibility that eliminate competition without pro-competitive justification, such conduct may raise concerns about the competition. antitrust. "
Variety wrote that Mr. Delrahim added that the direction of the Department of Justice could move in the direction indicated by the Academy if it considered that such a rule was intended to protect the market share and profits of the "enterprises". in place":
"As a result, agreements between competitors to exclude new competitors may constitute a violation of antitrust laws where their purpose or effect is to prevent competition by goods or services purchased and valued by consumers but which threaten the profits of the companies in place, "wrote Delrahim.
He added that "if the Academy adopts a new rule to exclude certain types of films, such as movies distributed via online streaming services, Oscars, and that the exclusion tends to decrease sales excluded films, this rule could therefore violate Section 1. "
The most telling voice to exclude Netflix and other streaming services, of course, was the director Steven Spielberg. Last year, he urged his readers to urge that, as Netflix is a television format, all of its film productions are technically television and must be submitted. for the Emmy Awards instead. The Oscars eligibility guidelines also state that any film submitted for consideration must have previously gone through a qualifying session in the theater before being distributed via another channel.
As Indiewire noted, the film industry may have blame for Netflix's commercial tactics, including its refusal to comply with industry standards, theatrical release windows 90 days and intensive lobbying at the Oscars, but Netflix matches the same eligible theatrical release targets as many smaller releases. Netflix productions have also already won many Oscars, which gives Spielberg a little more delay. (There is also the fact that Spielberg has already made notorious chips in the past, thus undermining his alleged appearance that Netflix could harm the high evening of the Academy.)
However, Variety announced in early March 2019 that Spielberg was planning to lobby the issue with members of the Academy, and Netflix has retaliated. This does not even take into account the fact that the many other streaming services that are already operational or planned to launch are close. I will be equally convinced of exclusion projects.
"Steven is firmly convinced of the difference between streaming and theatrical situation," said a spokesman for Amblin Entertainment in IndieWire. "He will be happy for others to join [his campaign] when it happens [at the Academy Board of Governors meeting]. He will see what happens. "(According to IndieWire, the Academy said this meeting would be held this month.)
Delrahim's decision to put his thumb on the scale adds another strange dimension to what is happening. Maybe it's a streamer. In any case, Delrahim has a host of priorities right now, such as the potentially terrible merger for Sprint / T-Mobile consumers, for which his office has yet to make a decision.
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