Final Regulatory Assessment and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Final Rule - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations - Movie Theaters; Movie Captioning and Audio Description

In the movie exhibition industry’s early days, movies were shown primarily in establishments that had a single auditorium with a single screen.  In recent years, a single movie theater establishment can have more than a dozen auditoriums, all showing movies at the same time.  Because movie theater complexes vary greatly by the number of auditoriums, and the overall cost of this rule varies in direct relation to the number of auditoriums exhibiting digital movies within a movie theater, this Final RA breaks the movie exhibition industry into four venue types based on size:

• Megaplex (16+ auditoriums);

• Multiplex (8–15 auditoriums);

• Miniplex (2–7 auditoriums); and

• Single-Auditorium movie theaters.

The total number of movie theater auditoriums exhibiting digital movies is distributed among these venue types in accordance with research-based assumptions.  These assumptions, regarding the total number of auditoriums and the distribution of these auditoriums by venue type (Megaplex, Multiplex, Miniplex, or Single-Auditorium), are further detailed in Section 3.1. 

The distinction between venue types determines the captioning and audio description equipment required at each movie theater complex.  The number of hardware units and individual devices required by the rulemaking are the building blocks of the cost estimation for the average movie theater of each venue type.  Detailed assumptions and information regarding the scoping requirements by venue type are provided in Section 3.3.

The analysis also accounts for growth (or contraction) over time in the movie exhibition industry by venue type.  The four venue types have very different average costs due to their differences in size and differences in growth/contraction rates.  The assumptions made in the analysis regarding the growth of auditoriums and venue types are provided in Section 3.1.3.