Consumer Protection Agency fines companies for antitrust arrangement in selling cinema tickets

The Competition and Consumer Protection Agency of Georgia on Tuesday announced it had fined three companies ₾1.6 million ($595,954) for an arrangement that granted exclusive rights to selling cinema tickets online in violation of competition law.

The Agency said its investigation into the online movie ticket market had revealed Distribution Company and Tinet had made an exclusive contract which granted the latter sole rights to sell movie tickets on its website tkt.ge. 

The two entities were fined alongside El-tickets, the complainant in the case, which was found to have attempted to obtain the exclusive rights for their portal biletebi.ge.

Distribution Company, which operates a number of cinema theatres and screening spaces, was fined ₾1.12 million ($417,168), with Tinet issued a ₾544,328 ($202,746) penalty, and El-tickets ordered to pay ₾5,368 ($1,999).

The body said the court had also suspended Distribution Company's exclusive conditions for sale of tickets, and noted the companies were instructed to bring the agreement into compliance with the competition legislation.

It added it was issuing mandatory recommendations for enhancing online sales of tickets for cultural, entertainment, creative, sports, leisure and tourism events, as well as educational, transport-related and other products and services that incorporated “public, open and accessible competitive circumstances”.

The Agency also said it had carried out eight investigations over the previous year, which included potential abuses of dominant market positions, unfair competition, coordinated practices and possible restriction of competition by state administrative agencies.