DOJ Files to Terminate Paramount Consent Decrees

DOJ’s Antitrust Division Friday asked to terminate the Paramount consent decrees, which regulate how certain movie studios distribute films to theaters. The decrees “served their original remedial purposes and no longer serve to promote or protect competition and innovation,” Justice announced. "New technology has created many different movie platforms that did not exist when the decrees were entered into, including cable and broadcast television, DVDs, and the Internet through movie streaming and download services." The request went to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The division found the decrees' "continued existence may actually harm American consumers by standing in the way of innovative business models for the exhibition of America’s great creative films,” said Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim.