Chennai: Government to usher in online sale of movie tickets in phases
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government would finalize the mode of implementing its plan to usher in online sale of cinema tickets throughout the state in phases after a consultative meeting with all the stake-holders in a week.
Disclosing this to reporters at the secretariat here on Friday, minister for information and publicity Kadambur Raju said while the plan to shift to online sale of cinema tickets has found favour in some quarters, the government will hold a consultative meeting with representatives of theatre owners, film producers, associations' office-bearers, besides veteran film director Bharathiraja, home secretary, information and Tamil development secretary, director of information and public relations and other officials, to hear out their views.
These stakeholders have said they would support the decision arrived at after consultations at that meeting and “within a week we hope to give a final shape to this process” and begin the work to regularise the sale of cinema tickets, he said.
To a question, he said nobody has so far spoken of 'practical difficulties' in switching over to online sale of cinema tickets. After all people have moved to buying even railway tickets online, Raja pointed out. Stating there were 977 cinema theatres in Tamil Nadu, the minister said the effort was to enable the state, in a first of its kind, take the lead for online sale of cinema tickets, which would enable the government to have up-to-date information on number of shows, functional screens every day, number of tickets sold on each day, the daily collections at theatres and so on. “We have held one round of talks and everyone should cooperate in this endeavour,” Raju urged.
Raju, to another question, clarified that the plan to switch over the online ticket sales was not based on any allegation that theatre owners were not disclosing the details of daily ticket sales. The idea was to use the benefits of computer technology so that members of the public could book their tickets with ease and even buy them at the theatre counters online, the minister. “We are considering an easy way of implementing online ticket sales without posing any hindrance to the film-going public,” added Raju. Under the new system being considered, people can buy tickets at the theatre premises also, he emphasised.
The government will also speak to theatre owners on complaints about cinema tickets being priced high and the state's effort was to bring down the cost of cinema tickets for the benefit of the film-goers. “We hope the theatre owners will cooperate with us on this issue,” Raju said, adding, steps will also be taken to reduce the price of snacks sold in theatres, seen to be on the higher side.
