The ruling By the Supreme Court was handed down May 4, 1948. The court ruled 7-1 in the government's favor. William O. Douglas delivered the Court's opinion. The court found the studios guilty of violating antitrust laws. The verdict of the court went against the studios forcing them to sell their movie theater chains. The Supreme Court abolished block booking requiring all films be sold on an individual basis. Block booking is a system of selling multiple films to a theater as a unit. Studios used block booking to force independent theater owners to take large number of studio movies sight unseen. The Court ruled that price fixing conspiracies would no longer exist and the movie studios could no longer force exhibitors to charge minimal admission prices. Consequences of the court's decision were more independent producers and studios could produce there film products free of major studio interference and the loss of studios' rights to own their own classic film libraries. The results of the case forced studios to charge higher rents to exhibitors distributing their movies. It also forced an increase in ticket prices. (http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/paramountcase_6supreme1948.htm)
No comments:
Post a Comment