Cinema giant Odeon is one step closer to acquiring one of Birmingham's key cinemas after the Office For Fair Trading said it would not refer a takeover to the Competition Commission.
Odeon has applied to acquire Birmingham's Target Cinema, which reported £4.75m in turnover for the year ending 31 March 2012.
The cinema is currently owned by US-cinema chain AMC Entertainment, which only owns two cinemas in the UK, one in Birmingham and one in Manchester.
The OFT investigated the potential acquisition on the grounds that the merged entity could damage competition in the local area, including areas such as prices, film range, film times, quality, or service level.
Seven other cinema firms are in operation in the local area; Cineworld Birmingham, Vue Star City, the Giant
Screen at Millennium Point, the Electric Cinema, the Mac and Reel Quinton.
After examination, the OFT concluded the parties were not each other’s closest competitors and will remain constrained by a sufficient number of close competitors after the takeover.
Odeon hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons last month after a Facebook rant against the chain criticising its "insane ticket prices", poor staff and "dead" atmosphere, went viral.