We consider the entanglement entropy for a spacetime region and its spacelike complement in the framework of algebraic quantum field theory. For a M\"obius covariant local net satisfying a certain nuclearity property, we consider the von Neumann entropy for type I factors between local algebras and introduce an entropic quantity. Then we implement a cutoff on this quantity with respect to the conformal Hamiltonian and show that it remains finite as the distance of two intervals tends to zero. We compare our definition to others in the literature.