Blockbuster Inc. and Hollywood's major studios won a major victory Thursday when a Texas federal court judge dismissed price-fixing and conspiracy claims made against them by three independent video store owners. The ruling came after jurors heard nearly two weeks of testimony in a San Antonio courtroom from a slew of high-powered Hollywood studio executives as well as Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone, who were forced to take the witness stand to defend their business practices. The indie retailers claimed that the studios conspired with Blockbuster and one another to provide the nation's largest video rental chain with lower-cost new releases in an effort to streamline the studios' costly accounting and client services involved with delivering videocassettes to mom and pop video stores while providing the opportunity for Blockbuster to increase its market share from about 40% to its current 60%.

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