Beijing will set up at least 1,500 digital film screens by 2010 in a bid to reduce the prices of film tickets, said the Municipal Bureau of Culture on Monday.

"The government has already begun to build community-based cinemas and projection rooms to lower ticket prices," an official with the bureau said.

At present there are only 151 film screens at all the cinemas in Beijing, one screen for every 100,000 Beijingers. With 1,500 more screens, the prices of film tickets are expected to reduce, the official said.

At US$10, possibly more than many resident's daily income, ticket prices in Beijing are often criticized for being too high.

Beijing Vice-Mayor Sun Anmin said government authorities have built a number of cinemas in communities and offered consumers low-price tickets.   

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)