From the article:
When we went to our seats, the wait staff let us know that despite the fact that the previews were playing, we wouldn’t know until the movie actually started whether we could see the film or not. If it didn’t work, the screen would just turn black. Luckily, the film went through without a hitch.
Why would a theatre owner help their competition?
Multiple theatres owned by one mother company / investor / whatever you get what I kean
Buy the rights for one location/franchise to run it then copy to your other locations to save cost
Good point.