US: Academy leaves door open to Netflix, following DOJ warning

Netflix and other streaming platforms won’t be banned from the Oscars as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has rejected calls from Steven Spielberg and others to restrict eligibility for the annual awards.

The Academy’s Board of Governors approved rules for the February 2020 Oscars and left the eligibility requirement unchanged. Just as before, feature-length films must be shown for at least one week in a Los Angeles County theater to be eligible, a requirement Netflix-backed movies such as Roma met on their way to winning awards. Proposals to require theater runs of at least four weeks were rejected.

The Academy was under pressure from the federal government to leave the rule unchanged. The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division warned the Academy in a letter last month that shutting out streaming-only movies may violate antitrust law.

“In the event that the Academy—an association that includes multiple competitors in its membership—establishes certain eligibility requirements for the Oscars that eliminate competition without procompetitive justification, such conduct may raise antitrust concerns,” DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim told the Academy at the time.