Bulgaria's 2 Biggest Cinema Chains Cleared of Cartel Charges

Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (KZK) has found no breach of competition rules in the relations between the two biggest cinema chains in the country, Cinema City Bulgaria and Kino Arena.

The two chains control over 80% of the cinemas in Bulgaria, according to reports of investor.bg.

KZK's decision on the case was made at a regular sitting on March 13 and was published on the website of the watchdog on March 20.

The media statement of Bulgaria's anti-trust watchdog reminds that the probe was launched on a tip-off of Lyudmil Todorov, writer, producer and director of "The Migration of the Belted Bonito."

Todorov complained that the two cinema chains had offered identical conditions for the screening of his work, charging the same fee of EUR 625, VAT excluded for the digital screenings and requiring the same percentage distribution of revenues from weekly screenings.

KZK, however, argued that Todorov's complaints challenged a common commercial practice based on a global trend.

The anti-trust explained that the probe had shown that Todorov had been offered the typical revenue distribution terms as other independent producers.

KZK ruled that there was insufficient evidence of collusion between the two companies on the amount of the fee of EUR 625, VAT excluded.

As regards the issue of identical ticket prices, Cinema City said that it had not changed tariffs since June 2010, adding that they depended on the situation on the market and the cost of equipment of cinema halls.

Kino Arena explained that tickets were the only source of revenues for cinemas, adding that the cinemas were constantly in intense competition for visitors and kept looking for ways to increase attendance.

KZK did not find any evidence that the pricing policies had been agreed on through anti-competitive coordination.