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Author Topic: Technicolor Acquiring Cinedigm's Digital Cinema Delivery Assets
System Notices
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 - posted 08-18-2011 12:10 AM      Profile for System Notices         Edit/Delete Post 
Technicolor Acquiring Cinedigm's Digital Cinema Delivery Assets

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

quote:
In a sweeping digital cinema delivery deal, Technicolor is acquiring the assets of Cinedigm Digital Cinema that are specific to physical and electronic distribution of content to movie theaters in North America. The deal is expected to close in September; financial details were not disclosed.

With the deal, Technicolor continues to grow its footprint in both physical and satellite delivery. For Cinedigm, it allows the company to sell the assets of a "noncore" business while growing support of its key areas of alternative content and digital cinema operational software, chairman and CEO Chris McGurk told The Hollywood Reporter.

Technicolor already controls an estimated 58% of the North American market for mastering and digital cinema delivery, said Claude Gagnon, president of Technicolor Creative Services.

Technicolor will acquire Cinedigm's physical and electronic distribution assets, including replication equipment and hard-drive inventory as well as a minimum of 300 satellite roof rights in the U.S. and Canada, resulting in an increase of about 40% in Technicolor's North American satellite footprint, which now will include some 1,100 locations.

Technicolor will become Cinedigm's preferred content servicing partner for postproduction through distribution services. That now includes exclusive satellite distribution of Cinedigm's alternative content business.

"The market will migrate, probably quickly, to satellite distribution," Gagnon said. "It is much quicker, much easier for the studios, the exhibitors and the content providers. We are migrating from film to digital, and the physical to electronic distribution — both at the same time."

As part of the deal, Technicolor will work with Cinedigm to support the development by Cinedigm of entertainment industry software as well as license Cinedigm’s CineSuite digital production tool and CineXpress trailer distribution software.

"We’re really looking at the future of the company and its growth businesses," said McGurk, noting that its growth areas are alternative content and digital cinema operational software. He described the Technicolor agreement as the "perfect strategic deal" in that it allows Cinedigm to sell a noncore business and forge agreements that support its core business. He added that Technicolor's international reach is a plus.

With the Technicolor deal, Cinedigm effectively exits the physical digital cinema delivery business. "We were No. 3 behind Technicolor and Deluxe," he told THR. "And it is capital intensive.

In related news, Technicolor on Wednesday inked a deal to acquire Hollywood post house Laser Pacific. Technicolor also is selling its New York assets to PostWorks while entering into a licensing agreement with that company to effectively share resources in New York.

Last week, Technicolor and Deluxe entered into three-year subcontracting agreements related to film services. Per the agreements, Technicolor will subcontract its 35mm bulk release printing business to Deluxe in North America, while Deluxe will subcontract its 35mm print distribution business in the the U.S. to Technicolor. Additionally, Deluxe will subcontract its 35mm/16mm color negative processing business to Technicolor in London.


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Frank Cox
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 - posted 08-18-2011 02:15 AM      Profile for Frank Cox   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Cox   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
This isn't surprising to me -- it seems that there has been less and less on the Cinedigm trailer drive lately, and it never was exactly jam-packed that I'm aware of.

What I find most interesting is the line about how the industry is moving to satellite distribution. I've heard that mentioned in passing here and there (and again here, in passing) but have never really understood how that would work.

I can see where the equipment to get the content off of satellite could have a fairly rapid payback due to the savings on freight costs, but that assumes "they" (the ubiquitous "they") don't nab theatres with download charges that eat up the saving.

Does anyone know how this works? Is it possible for independent theatres to download their content "today"? And if you buy the equipment to download your content, do you get to keep the savings?

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Louis Bornwasser
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 - posted 08-18-2011 09:12 AM      Profile for Louis Bornwasser   Author's Homepage   Email Louis Bornwasser   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Probably a very large server/drive will receive ALL digital content. Code key will unloack what you need.

Easy to pay for (by theatres) from shipping charges not needed. Louis

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Melanie Loggins
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 - posted 08-18-2011 09:16 AM      Profile for Melanie Loggins   Author's Homepage   Email Melanie Loggins   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I know I'm new to this game, but this makes me smile with relief: I NEVER have problems with Technicolor or Deluxe, but a drive from Cinedigm means, easily, a half dozen phone calls or emails to make sure I have a drive AND a key, and that I have them before showtime. I dread those yellow cases.

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Brad Miller
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 - posted 08-18-2011 10:54 AM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Louis Bornwasser
Probably a very large server/drive will receive ALL digital content. Code key will unloack what you need.
Bingo, that's how it works. At the FT NOC this is our preferred method of content delivery. There is no need to deal with relying on a manager to dock a drive into the system. With the satellite download, we can leave them 100% out of the equation.

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Monte L Fullmer
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 - posted 08-18-2011 12:13 PM      Profile for Monte L Fullmer   Email Monte L Fullmer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
...Crazy industry is just changing by leaps and bounds per each day....all for the purpose of cost cutting measures.

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Frank Cox
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 - posted 08-18-2011 12:49 PM      Profile for Frank Cox   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Cox   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Do they charge you a fee for the download? If your only cost is the equipment and electricity, then it's a lot more attractive than otherwise.

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Melanie Loggins
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 - posted 08-18-2011 03:35 PM      Profile for Melanie Loggins   Author's Homepage   Email Melanie Loggins   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
(a few hours later) Did I say I never have problems with Technicolor? Oh. My. God. Just drove to a town an hour away to get a drive so I don't have a dark screen tonight. Have you called them today? Yeah, just in case you were thinking about it, they're not answering.

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Emma Tomiak
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 - posted 08-18-2011 08:53 PM      Profile for Emma Tomiak   Author's Homepage   Email Emma Tomiak   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Tell me about it, Melanie. I loathe their hold music so much.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
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 - posted 08-18-2011 09:07 PM      Profile for Mark Gulbrandsen   Email Mark Gulbrandsen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
They announced that today in the Class at Cinedigm. Cinedigm is going to become primarily a software only company.
Satellite is good but still slow and somewhat temperamental for down loading. Depends on many things, even sun spots. I believe Disney pulled the plug on their Satellite delivery a couple of years ago. No, the Disney dish was not shaped like Mickey's head!

Mark

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Bobby Henderson
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 - posted 08-18-2011 09:55 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Satellite delivery is faster, easier and more convenient. However, satellite bandwidth is not cheap. I wonder what the price difference is between shipping reusable hard discs to theaters versus renting enough time and bandwidth on a "bird" to stream a movie to d-cinema theaters.

If the pressure is not already being screamed down from the higher-ups at a deafening pitch, I definitely predict a lot of pressure for studios to squeeze DCP file sizes way way down to sizes far smaller than those found on portable hard discs. "A 200GB movie file? It doesn't need to be that big! Squeeze it down to 20GB so the theater can get it in 1/10th the amount of time!" I can even see them shifting away from deep color JPEG2000 and using Blu-ray quality encodes in AVC or VC1. It would save money on satellite bandwidth and increase those profit margins for share holders. Yet it would still be "DIGITAL."

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Mark Gulbrandsen
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What I've seen in the last 4 or so years has been pretty ho-hum. Sure it can be fasster... for a price. Neither end is going to pay that high price though. Typical time I see is overnight to download a movie if the uplink or down link don't get interrupted.

Mark

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Brad Miller
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 - posted 08-18-2011 11:38 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
I believe Disney pulled the plug on their Satellite delivery a couple of years ago. No, the Disney dish was not shaped like Mickey's head!
You believe wrong. All of our locations get BV content via satellite.

Again, we have not had any problems. The satellite delivery has proven to be more reliable than a physical hard drive shipped across the country. Maybe we're just special though. [Wink]

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Steve Guttag
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 - posted 08-19-2011 09:21 AM      Profile for Steve Guttag   Email Steve Guttag   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The only possible downside to satellite is that it takes 8-hour or so, at present to download the typical title. So long as they make the titles available early enough to deal with problems, I don't see the problem with satellite. You wouldn't want to get your movie via satellite on the day of the show, however.

-Steve

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Bobby Henderson
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 - posted 08-19-2011 09:46 AM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
This is another reason why I think bean counters, managers and other various non-techie people will demand DCP file sizes to be severely reduced. It takes a long time to download a 200GB movie file. A movie only 20GB to 50GB in size could be downloaded much faster, possibly fast enough to be downloaded the day the show opens. Post production can keep working and making changes literally up to the last minute.

It's a good bet many of the non-tech money people working in the movie industry don't know any of the quality differences between a JPEG2000-based DCP versus that of a severely compressed MPEG-4 HD video you can watch on pay per view via the cable/satellite TV provider.

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