This is a fun antitrust, or perhaps former antitrust, thing to think about. And like anything in 2020, the big concerns from independent theater associations (hell, in a pandemic world, even major theater groups) is Silicon Valley. But those concerns feel eh to me right now. https://twitter.com/loudmouthjulia/status/1291751368013864962

This piece by @labuzamovies from November breaks things down nicely. https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/20/20974364/justice-department-paramount-decree-disney-netflix-monopoly

I can't see Disney

a) wanting to get into a business that is failing, even if being in theaters benefits 'em

b) wanting to deal with that level of scrutiny...over a failing business

c) making another massive purchase post-Fox (still not going great) https://twitter.com/bronco7732/status/1291753948584583168

Same for Netflix/Amazon. I could be wrong (I often am!) but it's not like they're acquiring something that has rapid growth potential for them. Theaters are not dead, but it doesn't seem like something Amazon would go "yeah, we'll buy it" even if would be a pocket change purchase

And to be clear: there was no reason to end the decree. Not to mention "...the Court finds that it is unlikely that the remaining Defendants would collude" is a poor read on capitalism??

"Certain conduct once deemed per se illegal may now be pro-competitive" is also

Like, if the basic argument is "we don't think vertical integration + monopolization is going to be a problem anymore, but we'll keep an eye on it," why not just keep the decrees in place?

I still think it will be a while before any company takes advantage of the decree ending. They have to figure out how to take advantage of it. And I imagine it won't be during a pandemic when they can't forecast the next quarter and antitrust among tech giants is under scrutiny.

Main point: DOJ got involved to end a decree because it believes companies won't take advantage of a situation like in the '40s.

If there's anything we know, it's that companies take advantage of whatever they can. Again: there was no need to end the decree. But here we are.