Agoura Hills, CA—Mar 17, 2006
DTS to Acquire Digital Booking Systems from Filmstew.Com
Acquisition Provides Online Booking Service with Capabilities for Cinema Exhibitors and Distributors
DTS, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTSI) announced today
that it has entered into an agreement with FilmStew International, Inc., a
Hollywood-based provider of online news and reviews for the motion picture
industry, to acquire the assets of Digital Booking Systems (DBS), which provides
a web-based application enabling the booking and scheduling of motion pictures
for theatrical exhibition.
Created by FilmStew, DBS is the only Application Service Provider (ASP) that
enables exhibitors and distributors to communicate through the Internet by
accelerating the process of booking playdates, scheduling showtimes, programming
trailers, tracking data and facilitating film rental payments. Uniting
geographically scattered organizations and allowing them to function as a single
cohesive business unit, the functionality of the application has been carefully
designed to accurately model standard practices in the exhibition industry.
Critical business information can be shared between internal systems and
third-party enterprise systems, which allows individual theaters and circuit
owners to instantaneously audit general ledger and box office accounts,
calculate film settlements and payables, and keep track of accruals.
Distributors of all sizes can also utilize the system, allowing their sales reps
to solicit theater bookings, request trailer placement and immediately respond
to playdate requests from exhibitors. A continuously updated database provides a
ready reference to subscribers of available content and release schedules
including one-sheets, publicity photos, trailers and summary information that
expedites the decision-making process for film buyers.
DBS is a wholly owned asset of FilmStew.com. According to J. Sperling Reich,
FilmStew.com Founding Director and President of Digital Booking Systems: “By
leveraging the Internet, DBS has been able to combine innovative technology and
pioneering business solutions into an economic, feature rich application with an
intuitive end user experience. We’ve proven it can easily be integrated and
deployed wherever an organization has offices or theaters. For some time now we
have been looking for a way to expand our business and we are extremely excited
about the opportunity to work with DTS in making our application more broadly
available to the global exhibition and distribution market.
“This strategic acquisition represents DTS’ continuing expansion of our products
and services for an increasingly digital, software-based cinema industry,” says
Don Bird, Senior Vice President, Cinema Division at DTS. “The integration of
DBS’ services to DTS’ Cinema division portfolio extends our company’s commitment
to delivering tools and products that expedite workflow for cinema exhibitors,
distributors, as well as studios. Our two companies will work closely together
to ensure a seamless transition of service for existing customers, while working
to incorporate the DBS capabilities as part of our DTS Cinema Media Network™.”
About DTS Cinema Division
DTS, a leading digital sound company, is now a leading digital entertainment
company, with emergent capabilities and resources to integrate and support a
fully digital experience for high-quality cinema presentation.
DTS’ expanded range of products and services are founded upon our proven
expertise in the creation and delivery of digital media for cinema, and have
been developed to meet the opportunities and challenges of the industry
transition to a digital entertainment platform. Our content creation and
delivery tools for D-cinema and E-cinema, and media network systems offer new
standards of quality and ease of operation. These tools and systems are designed
to define and support new opportunities for increased revenues and efficiencies
for content providers and exhibitors.