HUMA 2740

Lecture 5

- The Motion Picture Patents Company – first attempt to create a

monopoly
o Made up of largest companies that held patents for e.g.
projection, screening, CODEC (film stock used), Edison
Company, Biograph
o Used market power and wealth to keep out competition by
charging licensing fees for any company that wanted to use
equipment (lawsuits to exhibitionists and independent
filmmakers who were unable to pay fees)
- a.k.a “The Edison Trust”
- Dissolved in 1915 by the federal courts as it was found in violation of
the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Act – act to eliminate power of large
corporations
o US Justice prosecuted large corporations from 1890s to 1970s
o Even before the dissolution, MPPC could not produce enough
films to meet demand
o Independent filmmakers (Paramount, Warner Brothers, etc.)
o Movie industry became concentrated in hands of small
companies around 1908
Labour

- Struggles between film workers and the owners of film companies are
a key feature of the early American film industry
- Attempts to unionize film workers begin as early as 1907
 - Not a widespread distribution so filmmakers sold their film by the foot
(not because of the quality but because of how much film there was
produced)
- Film exchanges – theatre owners rent film from producers for a short
period of time (for as long as film is popular)
- Developing oligopolies
- Movie industry goes from being open to more structured and more
profit oriented
- 1941 – film industry remains as one of the only industry in which most
workers are unionized
Cultural Policy as a Solution to Market Failure

- Also viewed as a state instrument for protecting and preserving

culture from the presumed threat to it posed by the cultural industries
- Cultural goods such as TV shows aren’t just commodities with
utilitarian properties but are important communication vehicles of
cultural meanings that may benefit ppl in non-commercial and non-
utilitarian ways
- May give citizens a sense of belonging to a way of life, improve well-
being or resonate with their desire to produce a cultural heritage for
future generations in Cda
- Cultural value of TV very difficult to quantify in purely monetary terms
- Some cultural policy-makers say the state has the responsibility to
provide citizens with access to a diverse array of Canadian cultural
products
Television Subsidies
- States directly and indirectly subsidize or financially assist the TV
industry
- Direct subsidy – transfer of public wealth by the govt to culture
industry
- Indirect subsidy – money created when govt encourages production of
cultural goods by establishing an environment that supports business
- American fed govt and state-level govt use subsidies and tax breaks
to economically support the American TV industry