Antitrust enforcement once structurally shaped Hollywood, and weakening it enabled consolidation

Evidence

The purpose of antitrust law is to maintain competition and limit monopoly power, but neoliberal ideology has narrowly defined the parameters of antitrust to concern only consumer prices, not the broader public interest, and antitrust enforcement has weakened as a result. … Antitrust measures have been used to tame Hollywood before, including the Paramount Decrees in 1948 that broke up the Hollywood studio system and the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules in 1970 that prevented monopolization by the Big 3 television networks. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 461

Categorization

• XREF: The Paramount Decrees and Fin-Syn rules as precedent connect directly to the reader’s question of whether ownership structure leaves fingerprints on artistic form — here it demonstrably did.
• DEFINE: Nails down the two key historical regulatory instruments that shaped Hollywood’s market structure.