§ Mr. StevensTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what action is being taken to implement the undertaking which the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Industry gave the House on 20 November,Official Report, columns 1389–92, to consult the cinema and film industries about follow-up action to the 1983 Monopolies and Mergers Commission report on the supply of films and the subsequent experimental films release scheme.
§ Mr. MaudeI am today beginning such consultation. As my hon, Friend said in the House on 20 November, we have given further consideration to the adverse public interest findings of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's report on the supply of films, in conjunction with the results of the experimental film release in the 489W Manchester and Glasgow areas conducted by the Office of Fair Trading. Following that experiment, I am considering making an order under the Fair Trading Act 1973 to implement the two main recommendations of the MMC concerning barring and popular films.
I am therefore today writing to interested parties in the cinema and film industries to indicate the terms in which an order under the Fair Trading Act might be framed and to seek their views on this course of action. I am proposing firstly that existing and future long-term arrangements between a distributor and a cinema operator to bar other cinemas locally from showing the same films concurrently might be made unlawful. Secondly, I am proposing that a four-week limit might be placed on the length of time for which "first run" cinemas may exhibit a popular film without making it available to competitors.
Copies of the Director General of Fair Trading's report on the experimental films release scheme together with copies of our consultation letter have been placed in the Library of the House and are available in the Vote Office.
I am asking that comments on these proposals should be submitted in writing by 31 January 1988.