None of the participants were satisfied with the result of the New York Equity Suit. The Department of Justice, which considered theater divestiture the only proper remedy, refuted the mandatory court-directed competitive bidding as unexpected and unwanted. The Big Five were disappointed with the Statutory Court departure from the long-dead Consent Decree of 1940. While the Big Five agreed to comply with the ban on theater pooling (which they in fact did by July 1, 1947), they protested the elimination of block booking. Universal and Columbia, who felt like they were dragged into the suit, were devastated by the block booking ban.
Though SIMPP was not entirely pleased with the outcome, the independents had many things to celebrate. The SIMPP public relations department said that “there can be no question that the verdict is not entirely satisfactory because it did not result in complete divorcement of theater ownership.” However, for the first time since the FTC investigations in the 1920s, “the majors have been publicly pronounced guilty of monopolistic practices which the American people regard as abhorrent and inimical to their best interests, while the independents have aligned themselves on the traditional American side of fair play and freedom of the individual to do business on a basis of merit instead of power.”
The Society's public relations director congratulated the independent members for helping to spur the government into action: “It can safely be said that without the intervention of the Society the motion picture industry might be forced to operate to this day and in the foreseeable future under another consent decree.” Furthermore, the trial generated more exposure for SIMPP-“publicity space worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, and good-will and prestige for which there is no material yardstick.”
Both the government and the major studios submitted appeals that would send the Paramount case to the Supreme Court. The independent producers welcomed the Statutory decision as an appropriate preamble to the real fight ahead.