Tag Archives: XDC

Screen Digest’s David Hancock Discusses Europe’s D-Cinema Funding Shortfall

July 7, 2010

Europe's Digital Shortfall (Courtesy Screen Digest)

On June 21st, just in time for Cinema Expo, Screen Digest published a report titled “Digital Cinema Moves Into The Mainstream“. Twelve pages in length and with 10 tables and charts, the report uncovered a significant “digital shortfall” in the amount of financing required to convert all of Europe’s screens to digital. David Hancock, a senior analyst at Screen Digest, authored the report and we asked him to shed some light on its key findings. (The interview appears after the jump).

Details From The Report
Not counting Russia there are roughly 32,600 screens throughout Europe for which a digital rollout will cost EUR €2.1 billion (or USD $2.65 billion). Of those screens 23,800 are covered for digital conversion through virtual print fees offered by Hollywood studios. Upwards of 5,000 screens will be handled directly by theatre owners themselves. Theoretically that means there is funding of EUR €1.65 billion (or USD $2.1 billion) for d-cinema conversions, leaving a gap of EUR €450 million (or USD $568.4 million) to cover all Europe’s screens.

And who is being left out of the funding equation? Well, it’s mostly art houses, seasonal theatres, repertory venues and mobile cinemas.

The United Kingdom and The Netherlands have set up special funding groups to help solve this problem. Support funds have also been established in such countries as the Czech Republic, Finalnd, France, Germany, and Sweden. On region in Poland plans to pull money out of a tourism fund and Italy is giving tax credits to any theatre which converts. The European Union is offering assistance through its MEDIA Programme.

Driven mostly by 3D content, the number of European screens equipped for d-cinema at the end of the first quarter in 2010 had risen 16% over 2009 to 5,333, or a full 15% of the region’s screens. Presently 75% of all digital screens in Europe are 3D capabe. Thanks to competition among France’s largest exhibitors, the country leads the 3D screen count with more than 700. The U.K. and Germany are second and third hovering around the 500 screen mark.

Posted in Digital Cinema

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SmartJog Continues Partnership Spree With XDC and Fox

By J. Sperling Reich

March 26, 2010

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:

Read More »

Posted in Business, Digital Cinema

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Euroscoop and Apollo Cinemas Set To Go Digital

By J. Sperling Reich

June 24, 2009

euroscoop If there was any debate over whether digital cinema would ever roll out in the European market one would hardly know after the past two weeks. Sure there have been lots of discussion at the European Cinema Summit and Cinema Expo about which European countries would be eligible for virtual print fees, which would have to go it on their own and wether the European Commission would offer any subsidies, but at the same time several theatre chains have been announcing their plans to deploy the new digital technology.

After yesterday’s announcement that Hungary’s Palace Cinemas had selected XDC for the conversion of 170 screens, Euroscoop, a chain with theatres in Belgium and The Netherlands, has also signed an agreement with the European integrator. Finance by their VPF agreement, XDC will install DCI-compliant digital cinema equipment on Euroscoop’s 61 screens starting in September and finishing before the end of the year.

Euroscoop will be using XDC’s CineStore Solo server and central library server, the CineStore Plaza. Each of the circuits six theatres will get XDC’s theatre management system and will be fully networked. Euroscoop has elected to go with Barco projectors. Read More »

Posted in Digital Cinema, Integrators

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Palace Cinemas Selects XDC For D-Cinema Deployment

By J. Sperling Reich

June 23, 2009

Palace + XDC Just a few months after announcing the installation of 12 digital 3D screens, Palace Cinemas, a leading Central European exhibitor has selected XDC as the d-cinema integrator which will deploy digital cinema throughout all its 170 screens. Installations will be financed using XDC’s virtual print fees and will commence in the latter half of 2009.

Budapest based Palace is the largest theatre circuit in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Of course, XDC will rely on the CineStore server they manufacture in each installation. Every one of Palace’s 20 theatres will be networked and use the CineStore Plaza as their central storage server in conjunction with XDC’s TMS. No word on what projectors have been selected, though they are sure to be DCI-compliant.

In Amsterdam for Cinema Expo, V.J. Maury, Palace Cinemas Chief Executive Officer, seemed excited that digital cinema was finally rolling out at circuit-wide. Read More »

Posted in Digital Cinema, Integrators

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Palace Cinemas Brings 3D To Central Europe

By J. Sperling Reich

March 19, 2009

Palace Cinemas 3Digital

Central Europe will soon be able to experience 3D digital releases the way filmmakers had intended thanks to Palace Cinemas. Tomorrow the exhibitor will announce they will be adding twelve 3D digital screens to their circuit just in time for Dreamworks Animation’s “Monsters vs. Aliens” to premiere on March 26th.

Palace, which is the largest exhibitor in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, will install three screens in Prague, two screens in Brno, two in Bratislava and an additional five in Budapest, where the company is headquartered. The news is a bit of a coup for Masterimage. The Korean company’s 3D technology has been selected for 11 of the installations. Palace, which already has one RealD system, will install an additional RealD screen at West End, one of their premiere venues in Budapest. Recently RealD and Dolby have stolen the spotlight when it comes to making announcments about new 3D installations.

“We like Masterimage, said Palace CEO V.J. Maury of why they chose the technology. “It’s a combination of great 3D on the screen and the right price. And we wouldn’t add another RealD screen at West End if it were not for its excellent 3D picture.”

Posted in Countries, Digital 3D, Digital Cinema

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Digital Cinema Integrators Continue to Bleed Money

By Patrick von Sychowski

February 11, 2009

There is a standing joke in the industry that to make a small fortune in digital cinema you need to start with a large fortune. Sadly, this sentiment seems to be vindicated by the latest quarterly figures from Cinedigm (formerly AccessIT). The company’s scorecard is impressive enough:

Cinedigm Digital Report Card

And the revenue has been going up year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, as the press release proudly trumpets:

Access Integrated Technologies, now doing business as Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (”Cinedigm” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: CIDM), reported a 10% increase in year-to-date revenue to $65.1 million, and a 6% increase in revenues, to $22.7 million for the fiscal 2009 third quarter ended December 31, 2008, versus the year-ago periods. The Company posted an Adjusted EBITDA (defined below) of $11.0 million or $0.40 per share, an improvement from the fiscal 2008 third quarter of $8.4 million.

But is there any profit? No, the company is still burning through money. $17.4m in losses in the most recent quarter to be precise. What are the implications of this? The 10-Q transcript makes for grim reading; Read More »

Posted in Analysis, Digital Cinema, Earnings Announcements, Integrators

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XDC Nabs Those Elusive VPF Deals - Including WB

By Patrick von Sychowski

May 23, 2008

XDC in Cannes 2008

There will be champagne rather than rose wine or Belgian beer being poured, toasted and drunk tonight in Cannes as XDC announces that they have secured VPF deals with four of the Hollywood studio, including the one that has eluded others, namely with Warner Bros. From Forbes.com:

Broadcast equipment manufacturer EVS said its unit XDC has signed agreements with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Paramount Pictures Corp., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and The Walt Disney Studios to invest up to 600 million euros in the deployment of up to 8,000 digital cinema installations in Europe.

The roll-out period under the agreement - which will see more than 65 percent of the value of projectors, servers, applications and services being co-financed — will last for a maximum of 5 years, with each digitised screen co-financed over a period of maximum 10 years.

The group also said agreements with two other studios, Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures are in a very advanced stage and are expected to close shortly.

Posted in Digital Cinema

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XDC Finds U.K. Partner In Sound Associates

By Patrick von Sychowski

March 19, 2008

Pan-European digital cinema integrator XDC has found a local implementation partner in the United Kingdom (and Ireland?) in the form of Sound Associates. No word on whether XDC have had any more luck in signing up UK exhibitor clients than rival Arts Alliance Media - or whether they have finalized any VPF deals for that matter - but if and when it looks like they will be ready to serve them well. From the press release:

Jerry Murdoch, Sales & Marketing Manager for Sound Associates, said: “Initially, Sound Associates will provide sales & marketing support to XDC in UK. Once a contract is signed, we will carry out the site inspections and detail any related necessary infrastructure work. We will then install the equipment (including any stereoscopic (3D) systems), and provide on-site training, on-site annual maintenance visits and of course, if necessary, call-outs. The helpdesk and monitoring support will still be serviced by XDC as their staff is fluent in English. We are delighted to collaborate with XDC … we have known them for a long time, and they have built the most comprehensive digital cinema service entity in Europe.”

Some will remember that SA were the installation partner for AAM in the first phase of the Digital Screen Network deployment, before AAM dispensed with their services and went it alone for phase two. Perhaps not surprising that SA should throw in its lot with XDC.

Posted in Countries, Integrators

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Arts Alliance To Get Disney’s Digital Titles

By Patrick von Sychowski

February 11, 2008

Disney has lent some support to Arts Alliance Media’s European virtual print fee proposal to convert 7,000 screens across Europe, though the press release reads like there some reservations and that the deal is not as clear cut in terms of support as previous deals. Take the last sentence of the first paragraph:

Under the terms of the agreement, Disney will supply European exhibitors with its feature films in digital format and will make provisional contributions towards the digital cinema hardware costs of AAM-deployed DCI-compliant screens. [italics added]

So AAM’s digital screens will get Disney Digital titles (including the all-important Disney Digital 3D ones), but the payments for screening these are ‘provisional contributions’. That must means that no final agreement on payment has been concluded. Similar working arrangements were signed in the US by AccessIT as well as Technicolor with a number of studios, so it is not unheard of, but it is not good for market certainty in the longer term. What guarantees are there in place that Disney will not halt the payments in 12 months time? Only the AAM and Disney lawyers have an inkling.

Posted in Digital Cinema, Integrators

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DDCinema Beams Opera To European Cinemas

By J. Sperling Reich

January 28, 2008

On Sunday January 27th, Distribution Digital Cinema (DDCinema), the joint venture between XDC, Qubo and Dynamic, jump started their operations by broadcasting a live performance of composer Arrigo Boito’s opera “Mefistofele” from the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy to 19 screens located in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

There was no official word on attendance of “Mefistofele” at any of the European theatres or how much tickets cost, but the Teatro Massimo, one of the largest opera houses in the world at 3,500 seats, was sold out with patrons paying top dollar to attend the opening night of the of the season and the first performance of a new production of Boito’s only complete operatic work. The opera, originally based on Goethe’s Faust, was beamed to cinemas via satellite and presented in high-definition.

In an oddly worded press release Elena Rasori, Project Manager of DDCinema seemed quite pleased with the event:

“‘Mefistofele’ was really fine, the singers were excellent and the image quality was really nice and colourful. The lights were modified for the video shooting and the quality was top rate. There was also an introduction by Madleyn Monti of the main artists with short interviews, as well as the plot in English and Italian.”

DDCinema joins a growing number of digital cinema service companies and alternative content distributors delivering live opera and fine arts events to motion picture theatres. AccessIT recently announced they would be simulcasting performances of San Francisco Opera productions to theatres throughout the United States and National Cinemedia started the trend in 2006 by working with the Metropolitan Opera out of New York to do the same. DDCinema seems to be the first company focusing exclusively on broadcasting European events to European cinemas.

The DDCinema partnership was only announced in late December 2007 by the trio of companies as an alternative content distribution initiative. The company will specialize in distributing between 10 and 12 recorded fine arts events to movie theatres each year with a few live broadcasts in the mix. These days that seems to be either operas or ballets filmed in HD, though DDCinema hopes to expand their offerings to sporting events, stage products, concerts, documentaries and even television programs.

While it is nice to see opera making a resurgence amongst patrons, even if it’s at the local multiplex, for such programs to be sustainable on an ongoing basis DDCinema may have to broadcast to more than 19 screens. Presumably the number of screens on which such content will grow over time along with XDC’s install base and the adoption of digital cinema.

Posted in Alternative Content

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