‘Time is money’: PVR INOX fined for wasting moviegoers' time with ads

New Delhi: A Bengaluru-based consumer court has ordered PVR INOX to mention the actual time of movie shows on tickets, rather than mentioning time that also includes commercial advertisements before the movie. 

A consumer who filed a complaint against PVR for wasting his time with lengthy advertisements won the case. As a result, the Bengaluru Urban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed PVR to clearly mention the actual movie start time on tickets, excluding ad durations.

The court noted that ticketing platforms like BookMyShow should not be put under the purview of the decision as it is a medium and does not actually control the show timings. However, the court held PVR INOX accountable, calling the practice unfair. 

“The viewers who are seated early in the theatre watch advertisements silently till the scheduled time. Taking beyond the scheduled time for the purpose of telecasting the advertisements that are commercial advertisements, is unjust and unfair,” the Bengaluru-based court said. 

The consumer court highlighted that the theatres are legally bound to screen PSAs (Public Service Announcements) in the context of public awareness. However, according to the guidelines pertaining to them, the theatre is not supposed to exceed PSAs beyond 10 minutes. And here, the mentioned time “wasted” was a total of 25 minutes. 

The court noted, “In the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious, no one has the right to gain benefit out of others’ time and money. 25-30 minutes is not less to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts.” 

The complainant had booked tickets to a movie wherein he entered the theatre at 4:00 PM, abiding by the show timings of 4:05 PM. However, the complainant claimed that the actual movie show began at 4:30 PM. 

Directing PVR INOX to discontinue engaging in unfair trade practices, the court ordered the cinemas to pay a sum of Rs 1 lakh as punitive damages for engaging in such practices. Furthermore, the court ordered PVR INOX to pay Rs 20,000 to the complainant for the inconvenience caused and an additional Rs 8,000 for the expenses incurred to file the complaint.