AMC to price movie tickets based on seating

(Reuters) - AMC Entertainment Holdings will start selling tickets at different prices based on the location of the seat in a auditorium, the theater chain operator said on Monday.

Theater chain operators across the world are struggling to keep their businesses running, as the pandemic has reduced footfalls. The trend of online streaming has further exacerbated the situation

AMC's new program, called "Sightline at AMC", will begin from Friday and will provide moviegoers with multiple seating options to meet their viewing preferences.

It would have three tiers of seating - value, standard and preferred. Value seats are available for free only to members of AMC Stubs, the chain's rewards club. Standard seats will be available at the usual cost of a ticket, while preferred sightline seats, which include select seats in the middle of the auditorium, will be priced higher.

Shares of AMC, which operates over 900 theaters globally, fell nearly 76% last year.

In December, AMC said it would raise $110 million in new equity capital through the sale of its preferred stock and proposed a reverse stock split.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)