I have been living in the not very quaint city of Beverly Hills for a little over 20 years.
I have joked that it is possible to rob a bank in Beverly Hills, and it will probably not be considered a big deal by the police department. After all, it is only a bank.
If however you were to speed, double-park, or jaywalk in the confines of the city, you will be arrestetried, convicted, fined, and incarcerated in a matter of hours,
I started in the business of selling television programs overseas almost 50 years ago. I worked for a Television Company owned by Columbia Pictures.
I was consistently warned by the "lawyers" about two potential "go to jail" violations of the Law.
The first was as I recall the Paramount consent decree that precluded us from "block booking" our feature films when sold to television stations inside the United States."
The other was not to violate any of the rarely enforced anti-trust laws.
There was an aura of fear surrounding these violations in that if you were apprehended for these violations you could go to prison. Did that admonition keep me on the "straight and narrow?" You can bet that it did.
Sadly, most "Studio" entities continue, as they have almost always done, which is to conduct "business as usual."
I ask everyone do we or do we not live in a great nation?
Sadly that was at least three major wars ago, and a significant number of content owners have regularly broken and continue to break both laws either out of arrogance or ignorance.
First, the results of a little Googling:
The Sherman Act provides: "Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal". The Act also provides: "Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony.
The Act put responsibility upon government attorneys and district courts to pursue and investigate trusts, companies and organizations suspected of violating the Act. The Clayton Act (1914) extended the right to sue under the antitrust laws to "any person who shall be injured in his business or property by reason of anything forbidden in the antitrust laws." Under the Clayton Act, private parties may bring suit in U.S. district court and should they prevail, they may be awarded treble damages and the cost of suit, including reasonable attorney's fees.
It was at a UCLA Law School Symposium about 25 years ago that I publicly challenge the head of NBC's Business Affairs Department as to why his Networks terms and conditions in almost all areas of their business were exactly the same and those offered by CBS and ABC. He of course denied that they were, and at the end of the day he came over to me and said: "Norman. I'm going to get you for asking me that question."
I ask everyone do we or do we not live in a great nation?
Do you ever wonder why the price of gasoline is as high as it is today? Why is the price of gasoline the same regardless of the company providing it? The oil companies control everything from finding the oil, refine it and own or control the distribution via the retail gas stations that sell it to the consumers.
I move on to the next scheduled abuse.
Do you ever wonder why your Cable Company has been able to charge you what they do? Why are the cable charges virtually identical in any community that has single or multiple cable providers?
Do you ever wonder why the commercial content of almost all Television Networks and stations is the same? Why don't the Broadcast networks "pinch" one another's talent? Did you ever notice the similarity of the four over the air networks in their content as well as their business practices?
Do you ever wonder why so many Big Media Corporations regularly violate both the letter and spirit of the law?
Unlike jaywalking in Beverly Hills when you will almost always be caught and punished, the likelihood of being punished by the feds is somewhere in between unlikely to impossible.
It was about five years ago that I called a clear violation of the antitrust laws by Warner Brothers Television to the attention of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, and they called me on the phone to tell me that Warner's had most certainly violated the law, and that they were not prepared to do anything about it,
Violate the Anti Trust laws OK.
Jaywalk in Beverly Hills, and off to the Bastille you go.
I ask everyone do we or do we not live in a GREAT nation?
Norman Horowitz
Prison Averse
Posted May 25, 2008 | 09:59 AM (EST)