With the start of Cinema Expo International only a week away Arts Alliance Media wasted no time in throwing down the gauntlet for major announcements at this year’s event. Earlier today AAM, one of Europe’s leading digital cinema deployment entities, made public two important deals they have undoubtedly been working on for some time.
The first bit of news was that AAM has entered into an agreement with Cineworld Cinemas, the second largest movie theatre chain in Europe, to convert 100% of their circuit to digital. That’s 790 screens at 77 venues throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. And the kicker is Cineworld will finance the entire digital cinema conversion with their own cash and financing with a schedule that will see the project completed in the next three years.
That news alone would have been worth its own press release, but on top of that AAM announce they had closed on EUR €50 million (USD $61 million) in financing with Sankaty Advisors. AAM will use the money to fund the digitization of 1,000 screens for exhibitors they’ve previously entered into agreements with. AAM already has 700 screens deployed with an additional 2,300 in the pipeline.
So let’s take a step back and examine each of these announcements in more detail starting with Cineworld.
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Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that SmartJog has been on a roll lately when it comes to partnerships? After announcing an agreement with Ymagis in February, they formed a partnership with XDC just before ShoWest and earlier this week entered into a deal with Twentieth Century Fox to deliver digital cinema content.
The agreement with XDC mirrors the one SmartJog signed with Ymagis in that XDC will deploy SmartJog’s technology in theatres it has contracted with. Specifically, each cinema will receive a SmartJog Gateway server which will act as a central library storage device that receives the content. The two companies will integrate their solutions to better automate the delivery of digital cinema content. What wasn’t clear from the press release was whether XDC would eventually integrate SmartJog’s technology directly into their own theatre management system (TMS).
SmartJog’s solution will enable XDC, which operates primarily in Europe, to deliver digital content into its theatres directly from their mastering facility in Liège, Belgium. Additionally, XDC will also be able to deliver content to any of the more than 160 cinema complexes in SmartJog’s digital cinema network throughout Europe. Commenting on the agreement, Fabrice Testa, XDC’s Vice President Sales and Business Development was quoted in the release:
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(From left) G. Solomon, J. Levin, M. Christiansen and G. K. Macdowell
Las Vegas is a city known for its many spectacles; bright lights, showgirls, casinos, fancy restaurants and prize fights are all just some of the attractions. So, it should come as no surprise that ShoWest, the annual gathering of motion picture exhibitors and distributors in Las Vegas, decided to add to the city’s attractions with their own version of a prize fight. On Wednesday, the convention held a lunchtime panel discussion titled “Show Me The Money! Does Digital Self-Financing During A Credit Crisis Offer Hope?”. One might ordinarily expect a panel discussion on financing to be incredibly dry, though whenever you mix senior level studio executives with independent theatre owners and raise the topic of the stalled digital cinema rollout, you are bound to see some sparks fly.
No doubt the ShoWest panel was put together in the wake of Paramount Pictures’ direct-to-exhibitor virtual print fee announcement. Indeed, Mark Christiansen, Paramount’s Executive Vice President of Operations was one of the panel members. He was joined by Julian Levin, EVP of Digital Exhibition and Non-Theatrical Sales & Exhibition at Twentieth Century Fox, Bill Campbell, Managing Director of the Cinema Buying Group, George Solomon, Southern Theatres CEO and Andrew Sriubas, a Managing Director of JP Morgan Investment Bank. Moderating the brouhaha was the general counsel for the National Association of Theatre Owners, G. Kendrick Macdowell.
Christiansen started off by explaining that Paramount had a lot of exhibitors asking if they could install digital cinema equipment on their own, rather than rely on integrators to do so. Paramount was able to capitalize on their existing relationship with theatre owners to put the direct-to-exhibitor virtual print fee agreement together. Since the 21-page document was made public in January, the industry has been combing over it in search of any detail that might be missing. Christiansen doesn’t think they’ll find much. Read More »
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After months of industry speculation, the Cinema Buying Group (CBG) has finally announced which digital cinema integrator they will be going with to help roll out the emerging technology to its more than 600 members in the United States and Canada. The buying program put together by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) for small and independent theatre operators announced that AccessIT was their choice to provide digital cinema equipment and service to more than 8,000 screens.
When CBG initially sent out their request for proposal back in the first half of 2007 it quickly sent digital cinema integrators and equipment suppliers into a frenzy. Of the ten vendors that submitted initial proposals, CBG slimmed the list down to four finalists by November of last year; AccessIT, Digiserv, Kodak and Technicolor. Another round of information gathering occurred before CBG made their decision public earlier today.
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