Int. No. 563

By Council Members Brewer, Gerson, James, Koppell, Liu, Nelson, Palma, Perkins, Seabrook, Weprin and Reed

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to disclosure in advertising with respect to theatre show times.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Legislative declaration.                                                                                                                  The Council finds that New York City consumers, who often pay upwards of $10 per theatre ticket to see a movie at their local cinema, should not be barraged with commercials, promotions and other unrelated media.  Movie theatres are distinct from broadcast television and radio insofar as the latter collect advertising revenue from commercial sponsors and therefore offer free entertainment to viewers and listeners.                                                                                                                                  However, movie theaters generate revenue primarily from tickets sales and food concessions.  Accordingly, once the consumer has purchased his or her theater pass, he or she has also acquired the right to view the motion picture free of additional advertising.  However, numerous commercials and promotions are often shown prior to the film to viewers who were misinformed of the movie’s start time to ensure a captive audience.                       The Council finds the current method of advertising a film’s start time is misleading.  Accordingly, it is necessary to enact legislation requiring theatres to disclose a film’s true start time in all forms of advertising.                                                                                            §2. Chapter 5 of title 20 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 20-724.1 to read as follows:                                                               § 20-724.1. Motion picture show times.                                                                                                    a. Disclosure in advertising. All establishments that sell, or offer for sale, admission passes or tickets to scheduled motion pictures, shall disclose the actual start time of said motion picture in all media advertisements, not including previews, advertisements or additional disclosures, except as otherwise required by law.                                                                                  b. Penalties. Any person or agent or employee thereof who shall violate any provision of this subchapter or of the regulations promulgated pursuant thereto shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars for each instance in which a violation occurs.                                                                                                      §3. This local law shall take effect sixty days after it has been enacted into law.

T.S.F

LS# 124

02/10/05