PARAMOUNT DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT INTERNATIONAL
SIGNS FIRST UK ONLINE DISTRIBUTION DEAL WITH
ARTS ALLIANCE MEDIA
22nd October 2007 – Paramount Digital Entertainment International and Arts Alliance Media (AAM), Europe’s leading provider of digital film distribution services, have announced a deal to digitally distribute films released by Paramount Pictures on AAM’s Vizumi Network. The deal means that films distributed by Paramount will be available to download both to rent and to own from the same service for the first time in the UK, and covers both new release and catalogue films.
Available titles for download include hits such as Mission:Impossible III and Babel, as well as classics from Paramount’s library including The Italian Job and The Untouchables. These movies will be available from AAM’s download site, Vizumi (www.vizumi.com) and also from AAM’s partner sites on the Vizumi Network, including LOVEFiLM (www.lovefilm.com), Tiscali (www.tiscali.co.uk/moviesnow) and Emap’s Empire (www.empiremoviedownloads.com). Download to Own (DTO) titles will be available starting at just £2.99.
Thomas Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment said “The deal with Arts Alliance Media marks another important milestone for Paramount’s global digital distribution strategy. As we seek to broaden our digital footprint across Europe, I’m confident that with the quality and depth of our movie catalogue, along with the strength of our current releases and our upcoming slate, we will provide a compelling proposition for our consumers and our partners alike."
Mark Livingstone, President of Arts Alliance Media, said of the deal “We are delighted to be able to offer customers the chance to download Paramount movies and the addition of more excellent content to our roster supports our ambition to be the number one download destination.”
The addition of Paramount content to the Vizumi Network means that Arts Alliance Media has the largest aggregated online distribution rights collection in Europe, with deals with majors Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros., and leading independents such as Momentum, Icon, Fremantle, Tartan and Discovery Networks. To date, Vizumi powers downloads on distribution partner sites including LOVEFiLM, Empire, AOL, Tiscali and Archos. A complete list of content and distribution partners can be seen at www.vizumi.com.
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Notes to Editors:
About Arts Alliance Media:
- Arts Alliance Media (AAM), based in London and Paris, is Europe's leading provider of digital film distribution services, dedicated to building a European digital network to deliver film to the cinema, to the home and between industry players. AAM was founded in 2003 by Thomas C. Hoegh who serves as Chairman of the Board.
- For European Download-to-Rent and Download-to-Own services, AAM provides ISPs, media companies and e-tailers with turn key solutions for acquiring rights and securely distributing digital video content over the internet to their audiences. A complete list of content and distribution partners can be seen at www.vizumi.com.
- AAM is the largest single shareholder of LOVEFiLM International, and provides the technology and content for their movie download service.
- For digital cinema, AAM provides end-to-end digital cinema solutions encompassing equipment selection, financing and integration, operator training, installation and support, and content management and delivery. AAM has signed long term Virtual Print Fee (VPF) agreements with Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures International for digital cinema deployment across Europe, for close to 7000 screens over the next few years and Paramount Pictures International have also committed to support AAM’s European rollout.
- AAM completed the UK Film Council digital cinema rollout of 240 screens on April 30th, 2007. The company is also participating in two digital cinema trials in Europe, one in the UK at the Odeon Surrey Quays multiplex, since February 2007, and the other in Norway, in various cinemas across the country, since April 2006. To date, AAM’s in-house digital cinema lab has encoded over 200 digital cinema titles and shipped over 3500 digital prints.
For further information, please contact:
Arts Alliance Media:
Kate Pidgeon: +44 (0)20 7751 7512 /kate@artsalliancemedia.com
Paramount Digital Entertainment:
John Robson: +44 (0)203 184 2195 / John_Robson@Paramount.com