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Do Movie Majors Really Collude? Indirect Evidence from Release Schedules

Author

Listed:
  • Fernanda Gutiérrez-Navratil

    (University of the Basque Country)

  • Víctor Fernández-Blanco

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

  • Luis Orea Sánchez

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

  • Juan Prieto Rodríguez

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

Abstract

Major Hollywood films studios and their affiliated local distributors have a dominant market share in the main international movie markets, but their competitive behavior has come under suspicion. In 2006, the Spanish Competition Court fined these Majors for anticompetitive practices. Our aim is to evaluate the presence (or absence) of collusive behavior among Majors during the 2002-2009 period. Because the release date is a critical variable of competition, we test whether Majors are coordinating their release schedules. Our results suggest that Majors achieve a larger degree of coordination in their release schedules than other distributors.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernanda Gutiérrez-Navratil & Víctor Fernández-Blanco & Luis Orea Sánchez & Juan Prieto Rodríguez, 2017. "Do Movie Majors Really Collude? Indirect Evidence from Release Schedules," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 221(2), pages 9-31, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:hpe:journl:y:2017:v:221:i:2:p:9-31
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Juan Prieto-Rodriguez & Fernanda Gutierrez-Navratil & Victoria Ateca-Amestoy, 2015. "Theatre allocation as a distributor’s strategic variable over movie runs," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 39(1), pages 65-83, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Temporal competition; movie exhibition; movie industry; collusion; product differentiation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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