Projector maker Ballantyne of Omaha‘s Q3 2007 figures are in and it is evident that digital cinema is starting to eat into the company’s revenue and profits. Net revenue is down 3.5 per cent compared to a year ago and gross profit was down from $2.2m to $2.1m – not a huge drop, but still a step in the wrong direction. In repsonse, Ballantyne is stocking up on digital projectors and are being candid about the underlying causes in their Q3 2007 filing:
John P. Wilmers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ballantyne, commented, “As expected, our Q3 results reflect the ongoing impact of the exhibition industry’s transition from analog to digital projection technology. Our digital equipment business grew over last year but from a small base, helping to somewhat offset the decline we expected in our traditional film projector business. As we progress through the transition to digital, we are actively looking at ways we can streamline costs related to our legacy film products business and improve overall operating performance while still being able to properly serve our customers.
“Subsequent to the close of the third quarter we were successful in extending our participation in the rollout of REAL D 3-D technology, providing 24 digital projectors to Regal Entertainment Group. The project was in conjunction with the October release of The Nightmare Before Christmas, an animated feature in Disney Digital 3-D.
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As always, a raft of digital and cinema related deals were announced on the first day of ShowEast. Below are the key ones.
AccessIT partners Sensio for live 3D streaming
Digital cinema integrator AccessIT has announced a partnership with stereoscopic technology solutions provider Sensio to broadcast live 3D events, together with AccessIT’s existing satellite partner IDC.
Access Integrated Technologies, Inc. (“AccessIT”) (NasdaqGM:AIXD
– News) announced today, CineLiveSM, a new proprietary product that will bring both 2-D and 3-D live content to movie theatres equipped with digital cinema. CineLive, the next step in leveraging the digital era to further enhance exhibition offerings, is a new set of hardware, developed exclusively for AccessIT by International Datacasting Corporation (Toronto:IDC.TO – News) and Sensio® Technologies Inc. (Sensio) (CDNX:SIO.V – News) which allows live 3-D and 2-D content to be converted from satellite feeds into theatrical entertainment.
What the press release takes a round about and convoluted way of saying is that Sensio has a technology for squeezing two high definition video streams (left eye, right eye) into one HD channel, so tat 3D events can be transmitted in real time over existing HD(TV) network, such as IDC’s. This should be a boost for AccessIT’s live events division, though as of yet they have not announced what events they have lined up, with rumours saying that Cirque de Solei might be one. Read More »
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