CGV, Lotte Cinema Fined for Unfair Competition

CGV and Lotte Cinema, the country's two biggest movie chains, were fined a combined US$5 million on Monday for engaging in unfair practices such as giving affiliate distributors more screens to show their movies and allowing them to screen the films for longer periods of time.

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The Fair Trade Commission said the two movie chains were given an unfair advantage at the box office.

The commission pointed to two hits in particular -- CJ E&M's "Masquerade", a 2012 film that attracted more than 10 million viewers, and Lotte Entertainment's "The Taste of Money", which was released that same year on triple the number of screens than competing films.

The watchdog said they also gave out movie discount coupons without the consent of distributors.