About Us

Tickets | Membership | Advertising | Gift Vouchers | Using Vouchers | Accessibility | History

Tickets
As of July 1, 2010, our regular show ticket prices (including HST) are:

• $10.00 for Non-Members
• $7.00 for ByTowne Members (with card)
• $7.00 for Seniors (age 65 and over, with I.D.)
• $7.00 for Children and Youth (age 17 and under, with I.D.)

Unless otherwise noted in our program guide, separate admission is required for each film. Prices above apply at all shows, 7 days a week, except for some special events and charity fundraisers.

A valid Membership card must be presented to obtain the Member's price (please do not ask our cashiers to break the rules). They cost $11.00 and are valid for 12 month from the time of purchase.

For more information, please visit our FAQ.

Membership
If you come to more than 4 movies per year, you can save money with a ByTowne Membership.

Membership costs $11.00 and lasts for a full 12 months from the date of purchase. When you show your Membership card, you are entitled to the $7 Member's price (see above) for any of our regular film presentations (the exceptions are a few specially priced shows and charity fundraiser screenings, always clearly marked in the ByTowne Guide and on the film description page of the site).

You can buy your Membership directly from the cashier anytime you come to the cinema. It becomes effective immediately, so you start saving right away.

• An $11 investment now saves you $3 on each film for 12 months
• Members can have the hard-copy ByTowne Guide mailed to them every two months, FREE
• You MUST show your signed Membership card to get the Member's price. Sorry, no exceptions.
• Lost or stolen Membership cards cannot be replaced.

Advertising

Everything you ever wanted to know about advertising in the printed ByTowne Guide (but were afraid to ask) can be found on our Ad Rate Card (.pdf). For more about the hard-copy ByTowne Guide, see The ByTowne Guide.

We don't run ads on screen before the show, and there are no ads on our web site.

Gift Vouchers

We offer Gift Vouchers which come in two different forms. You can mix and match them to add them up to whatever value suits you.

1. "Admit One Member" Vouchers ($7 each). Buy one or buy a gazillion, depending on how much love you want to demonstrate. Each Voucher is worth one admission for a ByTowne Member, except to specially priced events. Note that they have a time-saving feature: your friend can show his/her Membership to the usher, hand over the Voucher and waltz right in without having to visit the cashier. Non-Members must visit the cashier where, basically, the voucher will be accepted for $7 off whatever purchase she or he is making. Which means that our $7 Vouchers are designed to be best enjoyed by Members; if the recipient of your gift is not a Member, consider buying them a....

...2. Gift Membership Voucher ($11) Membership isn't just the best way to enjoy our $7 "Admit One Member" Vouchers, it's the best way to enjoy the ByTowne, period. If you are in doubt about the Membership status of your gift recipient, our advice is to buy a Membership Voucher and include it in the gift. There's no risk that the Membership Voucher will be redundant. Even if the recipient is already a Member, he/she can hang on to the Gift Membership Voucher until her/his current Membership expires. A Gift Membership Voucher doesn't bear an expiry date; when the recipient of your gift uses it for the first time, she or he simply visits the cashier and trades the Voucher for a new Membership, valid for a full 12 months from that day (not from the day you purchased the gift).

Neither of the two Voucher types have any expiry date. Even if our prices change someday, the Vouchers will be worth their face values of $11 and $7, respectively, anytime.

So, add up your Voucher needs (example: 1 Membership and 4 vouchers = $11 + $28 = $39) and you're ready to make your purchase. All taxes are included, just like our admission prices.

To buy in person, come by at any time that the cinema is open to show movies (although you may want to check our schedule to avoid the busy times just before a movie starts). Please remember to bring cash, because we still don't take any form of credit or debit card.

To buy by mail, add up your purchase then add $1.00 more for postage, write a cheque payable to ByTowne Cinema (all taxes are already included) and send it to us at 325 Rideau St., Ottawa ON K1N 5Y4. We'll mail the Vouchers back to you. If you prefer, provide us with a card or note for the lucky gift recipient and an addressed envelope, and we'll send the Vouchers directly to him or her.

Thanks for giving the gift of cinema!

Using Vouchers

Smart ByTowne Members can buy Gift Vouchers for themselves. We don't mind! Save up a walletful of cash and buy as many $7 Admission Vouchers as you want.

Next time you come to the cinema, join the Ticket Holders line (if there's still another movie inside the cinema) or go straight to the usher (if we're letting the show in). Show your Membership to the usher and hand over one of the vouchers, and you're in. There's no need to visit the cashier, which can be a big time-saver. Vouchers won't work for Benefit screenings or special events for which the Members' price is higher than $7, but otherwise they're very handy.

Note also that pre-paid Vouchers work for Youth and Seniors customers, too, because both of those categories also pay $7 per movie. The usher may ask you for proof of age, but otherwise they work the same as for Members.

Accessibility
The ByTowne auditorium and washrooms are fully accessible for patrons in wheelchairs. Ask our usher for the locations of our wheelchair ‘parking’ spots.

For hard-of-hearing patrons, the ByTowne has an FM Audio Assist system. Receivers are available free of charge from the candy bar staff. The receiver clips on your belt or waistband and relays the sound to your ears via an earphone (you can use the one supplied, or for a better fit, bring your own earbuds; anything with a standard 3.5mm mini stereo plug will work). Patrons who have a hearing aid equipped with a T-coil should ask us for an induction loop (it fits easily around your neck) that sends the sound to your hearing aid.
 

History
Yup, the ByTowne is so old that it might be even considered olde by some young whippersnappers. 


Only a few years after opening, Mr. Berlin leased the building to the Famous Players chain of cinemas, an arrangement which lasted nearly forty years. A candy bar was put in sometime during the 1950s, and was later moved to its present location. In the early '60s, the Nelson was improved with a bigger screen and 70mm projection facilities. The seats were replaced too, with seating reduced to about 790.