Morristown, Nj,—Mar 30, 2009
Cinedigm Announces Agreement with MGM for Film Content and Virtual Print Fees
Secures Long-Term Commitment to Digital Distribution
Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM) (formerly AccessIT), a pioneer in the digital cinema industry, today announced that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) will supply its upcoming movies in digital form to the network of theatres Cinedigm equipped in Phase 1 of its digital cinema deployment plan and will pay virtual print fees (VPFs) under a long term agreement.
This new agreement is a continuation of a partnership between Cinedigm and MGM under which MGM has provided digital versions of most of their motion pictures over the last two years to Cinedigm’s network of exhibitors nationwide, most recently “Valkyrie” and looking ahead to “Fame” this September.
“As we continue to add more major distributors like MGM to our long term Phase 1 and Phase 2 plans, we are not only providing more higher quality digital choices for theatres and their customers, we are adding value for our shareholders,” said Bud Mayo, Chief Executive Officer of Cinedigm.
“We are delighted to extend our relationship with MGM and expand our digital film library with MGM’s outstanding lineup of movies,” added Chuck Goldwater, President of Cinedigm’s Media Service Division. “This agreement allows exhibitor partners equipped with our digital cinema systems to access MGM’s highly-anticipated slate of titles. It also serves as another important step in furthering the theatre industry’s digital evolution and will undoubtedly drive demand for digitally-enabled screens.”
Jim Orr, Executive Vice President and General Sales Manager of MGM’s Domestic Distribution division said, “Given the growing trend toward digital content and distribution, it is clear that digital cinema has an incredibly bright future and MGM is pleased to formalize our relationship with Cinedigm.”
Cinedigm’s Digital Cinema division is the industry-leading deployment program for Digital Cinema that provides the funding, installation support and administration for the company's studio-supported Digital Cinema rollout plans.
To date, Cinedigm has contracted for and completed the rollout of nearly 4,000 systems in forty-one states with exhibitors including Atlas Theatres, Allen Theatres, Carmike Cinemas, Celebration! Cinema, Cinema West, Cinetopia, Dickinson Theatres, Emagine, Galaxy Cinema, Marquee Cinemas, Krikorian Premiere Theatres, MJR Theatres, Neighborhood Cinema Group, Premiere Cinema Corp., Rave Motion Picture Theatres, Showplace Cinemas, UltraStar, and Cinedigm’s own Pavilion Digital Showcase Theatre.
Its Phase 2 plan for up to an additional 10,000 screens will provide networked, turnkey, Digital Cinema systems in conformance with DCI specifications, including Cinedigm’s unique Library Management Server® and Theatre Command Center® software.
