{"AmendmentNumber":"214","ParentBillNumber":"H5562","Bill":null,"Sponsor":{"Id":"JNR1","Name":"Jeffrey N. Roy","Type":1,"Details":"https://malegislature.gov/api/GeneralCourts/194/LegislativeMembers/JNR1","ResponseDate":"2026-07-06T12:33:43.703"},"Category":null,"Action":"Consolidated","RollCall":[],"Title":"Theater Restraint of Trade","Branch":"House","RedraftNumber":null,"IsFurther":false,"GeneralCourtNumber":194,"Text":"Mr. Roy of Franklin moves to amend the bill by adding the following paragraphs to chapter 93A of the General Laws as appearing in the 2024 official edition:\r\nSECTION 1. The following definitions shall be added to section 1 of chapter 93A of the General Laws as appearing in the 2024 official edition:\r\n\"Booker\" or \"Film Buyer\" shall include any person or entity that negotiates or contracts with a distributor for the licensing of motion pictures on behalf of an exhibitor.\r\n\"Clearance\" shall include an agreement, explicit or implicit, between a distributor and an exhibitor that grants the exhibitor exclusive rights to show a motion picture within a specific geographic zone, thereby restricting the distributor from licensing the same motion picture to rival exhibitors.\r\n\"Circuit Dealing\" shall include the practice of licensing motion pictures to a theater chain or circuit for all or multiple geographic areas, rather than negotiating theater-by-theater on the individual merits of each location.\r\n\"Day-and-Date\" shall include the simultaneous exhibition of a motion picture by two or more exhibitors within the same geographic booking zone beginning on the same commercial release date.\r\n\"Distributor\" shall include any entity engaged in the business of licensing or distributing motion pictures to exhibitors (including studios, independent distributors, and their parent corporations).\r\n\"Exhibitor\" shall include any person or entity engaged in the business of operating a movie theater for the public viewing of motion pictures.\r\n\"Independent Exhibitor\" shall include an exhibitor operating three or fewer theater locations within the Commonwealth.\r\nSECTION 2. The following paragraphs shall be added to section 2 of chapter 93A of the General Laws as appearing in the 2024 official edition after paragraph (c):\r\n(d) It shall be an unfair method of competition and an unfair or deceptive act or practice under chapter 93A for any distributor or circuit exhibitor to engage in practices that unreasonably restrain trade in film exhibition, including:\r\nUnreasonable Clearance Zones: Granting or enforcing a clearance zone that covers an area broader than necessary to protect a legitimate, non-predatory business interest, or enforcing a blanket clearance that prevents an independent exhibitor from playing a film day-and-date, provided the independent exhibitor offers reasonable licensing terms and has adequate facility standards.\r\nCircuit Dealing and Preferential Allocation: Utilizing market power or circuit-wide bargaining power to coerce a distributor into denying licensing rights to a nearby independent exhibitor.\r\nDiscriminatory Refusal to Deal: Arbitrarily refusing to license a commercial motion picture to an independent exhibitor when that motion picture is being licensed to more than 1,000 screens nationwide, provided the independent exhibitor agrees to standard industry economic terms and hold-over protocols.\r\nSECTION 3. This act shall take effect 90 days after its passage.\r\n"}