Consumer Forum Holds PVR Cinemas Liable For Showing Long Ads Instead Of Screening Movie At Announced Time
PVR Cinemas was directed to pay punitive damages of Rs 1 lakh.;
Not starting the screening of a movie at the announced time and showing commercial advertisements for about 25 minutes before the actual start of the movie constitutes an unfair trade practice, held the Bangalore District Consumer Commission in a case against PVR Cinemas."In the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious, no one has right to gain benefit out of...
Not starting the screening of a movie at the announced time and showing commercial advertisements for about 25 minutes before the actual start of the movie constitutes an unfair trade practice, held the Bangalore District Consumer Commission in a case against PVR Cinemas.
"In the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious, no one has right to gain benefit out of others time and money. 25-30 is not less to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts. It is very hard for busy people with tight schedule watching unnecessary advertisements," the Commission observed.
Observing that watching movies, which otherwise gets helps people relax, should not have become stressful for the Complainant, the Commission held PVR Cinemas liable to compensate the Complainant for the loss incurred by him.
Background
The Complainant booked three tickets for the movie "Sam Bahadur" in PVR Cinemas in Bangalore for himself and his family paying Rs. 825.66. He booked the tickets on bookmyshow.com. The movie was supposed to start at 4:05 pm and the duration of the movie was 2 hours 25 mins . The Complainant fixed his schedule as per the timing of the movie so that he could plan his work accordingly. He was supposed to return to work at 6:30 pm, however, the same was not possible due to the show starting in the theatre at 4:28 pm. As per the Complainant, advertisements and trailers of movies were shown on the screen for quite some time and the movie ultimately was played at 4:30 pm while the Complainant and his family had been sitting in the theatre since 4:05 pm.
Aggrieved by the same, the Complainant approached the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bangalore seeking direction to PVR Cinemas (Opposite Party No.1) and Big Tree Entertainment Pvt Ltd.(Opposite Party No. 2) to cease and desist from playing advertisements beyond the show time as mentioned in the tickets.
Submissions of the Complainant:
The Counsel for the Complainant submitted that the Complainant had faced losses that could not be calculated in terms of money. It was asserted that playing the movie at a time that was beyond the scheduled time amounted to deficiency ins service by the Opposite Parties. Stating that it wasted the Complainant's precious time, the Counsel argued that the timings were wrongly communicated to the audience and even after paying for the tickets, the time of the Complainant was wasted in playing advertisements which led in him not being able to return to work at the specified time.
Submissions of the Opposite Parties:
The Counsel for PVR Inox Ltd. (Opposite Party No.3) stated that since it is engaged in the business of film exhibition in various formats including Mainstream, Gold Class Cinemas and Directors Cut, it has to screen certain Public Service Announcement (PSA) in the form of short films and documentaries in order to educate people about various issues. It was submitted that these videos are shown when the audience is sitting inside the theatre before the show begins. Further, it was denied by PVR Cinemas and PVR Inox Ltd that the movie time was 2 hours and 25 mins, stating that the actual movie time was 2 hours and 30 minutes. The Counsel stated that as per this duration, the Complainant could not have logically made it to work at 6:30 anyway and thus the Complaint was liable to be dismissed.
Findings of the Commission
The Commission observed that the Complainant was mainly affected by commercial advertisements telecasted continuously for 25 mins in the theatre. On perusal of evidence produced by the Complainant, it was seen that out of the17 Ads that were played, only two were public service announcements as per the guidelines.
The Commission had to deal with the question as to whether the duration of advertisement for the period of 25-30 mins was essential or not and if the theatre managements had followed the guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to exhibit Public Service Awareness before commencement of the movie.
The Bench held that the Opposite Parties had violated the government order as per which the theatres could play 10 mins of public service announcements and welfare schemes of Central Government and State Government. Moreover, it was held that the theatre owners were required to concentrate on the timings as were mentioned in the tickets and in the present case, the movie should have commenced at 4:05 pm as was mentioned in the tickets bought by the Complainant. It was stated that the advertisements should have been telecasted by the theatre authorities before 4:05 pm and not after that.
It was observed that playing the show beyond the scheduled time to display commercial ads is unjust and unfair as the audience could not be forced to watch ads for long durations before the show starts.
The Commission further held that the Complainant raised the issue with a good cause as many people must have faced the same issue on the day the movie was to be played in the theatre.
The Commission however held that since Big Tree Entertainment Pvt Ltd. was merely a ticket booking platform and had no control over timings or telecasting advertisements, it could not be held liable to pay the claims.
Making these observations, the Commission directed the theatre authorities to mention actual movie time on the cinema tickets to be issued to the public at large. Furthermore, PVR Cinemas and PVR Inox Ltd. were directed to pay Rs.20,000 to the complainant for mental agony and inconvenience along with Rs.8,000 as litigation expenses. Furthermore, PVR Cinemas was directed to pay an amount of Rs. 1,00,000 as Punitive damages to be deposited in the Consumer Welfare Fund.
Case Title: Mr. Abhishek M. R versus PVR Cinemas & Ors
Counsel for Complainant: Adv: Anudeep. L. Jain
Counsel for Opposite Parties: Adv. Anisha Aatresh, Adv. Mohumed Sadiqh
