Home Entertainment Week
19th April 2007
Fox joins download club
With Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment becoming the latest major studio to sign an agreement to offer downloads with Arts Alliance Media (AAM), the range of content now available for download again increases for consumers. Jody Raynsford talks to AAM president Mark Livingstone about the latest deal.
Every now and then there’s a flurry of activity from Arts Alliance Media with announcements seemingly every week about the latest deal the company has signed with a distributor, bringing another into the already impressive portfolio of clients it is working with to offer either download-to-own (DTO), download-to-rent or video-on-demand (VOD).
With the latest agreement announced this week, key major Twentieth Century Fox will make available its extensive catalogue of films available on AAM’s Vizumi Network for consumers on both a DTO and VOD basis. The significant aspect of the deal is that it is the first time the studio has signed an agreement in Europe for the use of its content in this way.
“This is Fox’s first deal in Europe for video on demand, electronic sell through and download to own,” explains Arts Alliance Media president Mark Livingstone. “As the first download provider in Europe to have done a deal with them, we are, of course, absolutely delighted. “Initially it is just the UK but we are hoping to have discussions about furthering the partnership.”
Livingstone said the plan was to ensure content was made available before the end of the month at pricing similar to those of other new release and catalogue product already available on the service. The initial launch will see 150 Fox catalogue titles, including the likes of Die Hard, X-Men, Speed and Me, Myself And Irene plus all new titles including recently released films Little Miss Sunshine, The Devil Wears Prada, Borat and hit family comedy Night At The Museum.
As stated in the past, AAM’s aim of becoming the major entertainment and film content and rights aggregator has taken another step in the right direction with such an important agreement with a major. The company’s digital credentials have long been established since winning the UK Film Council contract to install 240 digital screens at cinemas across the UK, allowing it to offer a complete service to partners from cinema to download.
Such a leading position has worked to the company’s advantage as Twentieth Century Fox executive vice president PPV, VOD and EST, Jamie McCabe noted of its choice of distribution partner: “Arts Alliance Media has demonstrated a keen understanding of the online distribution of film. We look forward to working with them to develop this nascent business.”
The content deal with Fox adds to the many deals already struck with major distributors including Universal Pictures, Sony and Warner, as well as key independents such as Momentum, Icon, Discovery Networks and Revolver, incorporating exclusive digital distribution deals with Artifical Eye and Tartan.
All content is carried on AAM’s Vizumi Network, a service providing DTO and VOD services which provides other channels such as ISPs, media outlets and etailers with the ability to distribute video content via the internet to consumers. Current partners to the Vizumi Network include ISP AOL UK, Emap sites such as Empire, Motorcycle News and Today’s Golfer as well as digital download service LOVEFiLM.
“Basically we now have four of the major studios with Warner, Sony, Universal and now Fox, as well as exclusive agreements with the likes of Tartan and Artificial Eye, so we think we must have the broadest range of studio content in Europe,” concludes Livingstone. “This must put us in a class above and first amongst equals in entertainment content aggregation.”