Movie goers often have to content with crying babies, loud coughing and ringing cellular phones at pivotal points in the movie. To prevent phones from ruining the movie experience, theatres have tried putting up signs and have even resorted to showing funny movie-like advertisements. Now, the National Association of Theatre Owners wants to block cellular phone signals by installing jammers and signal blocking paint into theatres.

The association has petitioned the Federal Communications Communication for permission. Cellular phone jammers are banned in the United States, but are legal in other countries. The jammers work by filling the air with white noise and cause phones to display "No Signal". Tomsnetworking saw a portable jammer made by SureSafe Technology at the Consumer Electronics Show this year.

NATO hopes this move will bring viewers back to the movie theatres, which have experienced a seven percent drop in revenues from last year. The association says that many theatres already ask patrons to check in their phones. The CTIA, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assosciation, does not like the idea and says that jammers will interefere with emergency communications.