NCM publicly proclaimed its interest in purchasing Screenvision in USA Today. NCM previously gained Screenvision’s anchor account, Loew’s Cineplex, following Loew’s purchase by AMC in 2006. It’s not clear that this is a good fit for NCM, nor a good thing for US cinema in general. Screenvision’s screens, while significant in number, generally represent a lower quality segment of the market than NCM now serves, no doubt commanding a lower CPM. From a competition point-of-view, such a purchase would effectively eliminate competition in the US cinema ad space. Perhaps more importantly, this would also place a lock on the nascent US alternative content market. NCM locks up its screens with exclusive alternative content deals so it can sell its Fathom Events content.