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Tag: Miramax

  • ViacomCBS buys 49% of Miramax

    ViacomCBS buys 49% of Miramax

    MUMBAI: ViacomCBS will acquire a 49 per cent stake in Miramax, the Los Angeles-headquartered entertainment company which has been into production and distribution of films and TV shows. beIN Media Group-owned Miramax Films is a renowned global studio with some of the iconic films in its kitty, which include No Country for Old Men, Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and Kill Bill.

    Under the deal, ViacomCBS will make a cash payment of around $150 million. Also, it will invest $45 million per year over the next five years, totalling $225 million, as working capital for new film and TV productions.

    Both BeIN and ViacomCBS would seek more strategic partnership opportunities in content production and distribution. The deal gives the duo further opportunities for combined distribution of new and old library content.

    Miramax leadership will remain the same.

    ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said: "This partnership with BeIN will be a unique opportunity to gain access to a valuable library, deepening our already substantial pool of IP at a time when demand for premium content is only accelerating. We look forward to working closely with the Miramax management team as we explore new ways to deliver its titles across a variety of platforms and create new, compelling projects."

    Said Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of BeIN: "This represents a major investment in and endorsement of our thriving Miramax business, which has grown in value under BeIN Media Group’s ownership and has a fantastic future ahead with major new movies and unexploited premium dramas. We are thrilled to partner with ViacomCBS and Paramount to explore further opportunities around Miramax's iconic IP, and also at group level, while substantially increasing the scale of our entertainment business."

  • TV Superhighway: beIN, Yaddo, AfricaXP have joined us, says Magine CEO Ambuj Goyal

    TV Superhighway: beIN, Yaddo, AfricaXP have joined us, says Magine CEO Ambuj Goyal

    CANNES; Magine has secured partnerships with four of the industry’s most exciting sports, documentary and entertainment content providers. Partnerships with beIN, the international media group and owner of MIRAMAX; Yaddo, the new documentary streaming service headed up by former head of The BBC’s documentary division, Nick Fraser; Africa XP and a Chinese digital TV distributor have activated Magine’s TV Superhighway in over 35 markets.

    Magine’s TV Superhighway aims to fully democratise content distribution, providing a global network of content providers and distributors, liberated from geographical limitations; enabling ambitious content owners to quickly access and monetise new markets and audiences anywhere in the world.

    The TV Superhighway empowers content creators, allowing them to utilise Magine’s cloud technology, distribution network, and industry expertise to choose which market to enter when and how. This new approach to content distribution opens up channels for broadcast producers, giving them the opportunity to tap into Magine’s technology and distribution network and decide where, when and which content is available in each market, with real time data analytics available throughout the process.

    Magine CEO Ambuj Goyal said, “Our recently announced partnerships with beIN and Yaddo mark significant proof points in Magine’s development of the ‘TV Superhighway’, and we’re looking forward to introducing our unique opportunity to new content partners with global ambitions.”

    Magine’s growth and innovation in global content distribution is hitting important milestones, accelerating beyond its German and Swedish origins and introducing the TV Superhighway to the Middle East, African and Chinese markets.

    The new partnership with beIN, a global sports and entertainment leader within the media industry, parent company of MIRAMAX, and broadcasting 75 channels across five continents – sees Magine’s platform enabling the access to the FIFA World Cup, the NFL, Formula 1, and the French, US, and Australian Opens in 16 countries.

    beIN director of digital Olivier Dufour comments: “Magine serves our premium content to hundreds of thousands of customers each day in 16 countries. They supported the launch of beIN’s digital on-demand services securely, delivering our premium content on a reliable and proven platform.”

    In addition to servicing established and multinational blue-chip companies like beIN, Magine will also provide an end-to-end service for new content providers. Magine’s recent partnership with Nick Fraser’s new documentary streaming service, Yaddo, will see some of the world’s most critically acclaimed documentaries streamed to over 160 territories this autumn.

    Yaddo founder and former head of documentaries at The BBC Nick Fraser notes that “Magine was the obvious choice as a distribution partner when we looked beyond technical capabilities. Their commitment to providing a TV Superhighway, at the service of great content, makes them the perfect partner to build a truly innovative global business model with.”

    Furthermore, a new agreement, announced in August with a Beijing-based digital TV system operator saw the start of a drive to build, launch and operate a cloud-based video streaming system for the Chinese market, which will see Magine’s TV Superhighway Stream Live TV to Over 100 Million Chinese Households. Mr Marten Liu, Chinese a digital TV executive said: “We are delighted to have Magine as our partner for this important development of our internet video streaming system and service offerings.”

    Magine recently entered into a partnership with Africa XP to extend their business beyond existing conventional broadcast platforms, additionally monetising their channels in partnership with dynamic, new and direct to consumer digital platforms.

    Africa XP CEO Craig Kelly had this to say: “Magine gives our channels global reach affordably and offers our operator partner’s instant OTT deployment of our channel bouquet in their markets – this expands our footprint and revenue generation potential exponentially”.

  • TV Superhighway: beIN, Yaddo, AfricaXP have joined us, says Magine CEO Ambuj Goyal

    TV Superhighway: beIN, Yaddo, AfricaXP have joined us, says Magine CEO Ambuj Goyal

    CANNES; Magine has secured partnerships with four of the industry’s most exciting sports, documentary and entertainment content providers. Partnerships with beIN, the international media group and owner of MIRAMAX; Yaddo, the new documentary streaming service headed up by former head of The BBC’s documentary division, Nick Fraser; Africa XP and a Chinese digital TV distributor have activated Magine’s TV Superhighway in over 35 markets.

    Magine’s TV Superhighway aims to fully democratise content distribution, providing a global network of content providers and distributors, liberated from geographical limitations; enabling ambitious content owners to quickly access and monetise new markets and audiences anywhere in the world.

    The TV Superhighway empowers content creators, allowing them to utilise Magine’s cloud technology, distribution network, and industry expertise to choose which market to enter when and how. This new approach to content distribution opens up channels for broadcast producers, giving them the opportunity to tap into Magine’s technology and distribution network and decide where, when and which content is available in each market, with real time data analytics available throughout the process.

    Magine CEO Ambuj Goyal said, “Our recently announced partnerships with beIN and Yaddo mark significant proof points in Magine’s development of the ‘TV Superhighway’, and we’re looking forward to introducing our unique opportunity to new content partners with global ambitions.”

    Magine’s growth and innovation in global content distribution is hitting important milestones, accelerating beyond its German and Swedish origins and introducing the TV Superhighway to the Middle East, African and Chinese markets.

    The new partnership with beIN, a global sports and entertainment leader within the media industry, parent company of MIRAMAX, and broadcasting 75 channels across five continents – sees Magine’s platform enabling the access to the FIFA World Cup, the NFL, Formula 1, and the French, US, and Australian Opens in 16 countries.

    beIN director of digital Olivier Dufour comments: “Magine serves our premium content to hundreds of thousands of customers each day in 16 countries. They supported the launch of beIN’s digital on-demand services securely, delivering our premium content on a reliable and proven platform.”

    In addition to servicing established and multinational blue-chip companies like beIN, Magine will also provide an end-to-end service for new content providers. Magine’s recent partnership with Nick Fraser’s new documentary streaming service, Yaddo, will see some of the world’s most critically acclaimed documentaries streamed to over 160 territories this autumn.

    Yaddo founder and former head of documentaries at The BBC Nick Fraser notes that “Magine was the obvious choice as a distribution partner when we looked beyond technical capabilities. Their commitment to providing a TV Superhighway, at the service of great content, makes them the perfect partner to build a truly innovative global business model with.”

    Furthermore, a new agreement, announced in August with a Beijing-based digital TV system operator saw the start of a drive to build, launch and operate a cloud-based video streaming system for the Chinese market, which will see Magine’s TV Superhighway Stream Live TV to Over 100 Million Chinese Households. Mr Marten Liu, Chinese a digital TV executive said: “We are delighted to have Magine as our partner for this important development of our internet video streaming system and service offerings.”

    Magine recently entered into a partnership with Africa XP to extend their business beyond existing conventional broadcast platforms, additionally monetising their channels in partnership with dynamic, new and direct to consumer digital platforms.

    Africa XP CEO Craig Kelly had this to say: “Magine gives our channels global reach affordably and offers our operator partner’s instant OTT deployment of our channel bouquet in their markets – this expands our footprint and revenue generation potential exponentially”.

  • Prime Focus Tech gets funding from PE firm Ambit Pragma

    Prime Focus Tech gets funding from PE firm Ambit Pragma

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) – the technology offshoot of media services company Prime Focus – informed the Bombay stock exchange today that it had received its first round of funding from growth capital private equity fund Ambit Pragma.

    The amount or how much was being divested in favour of Ambit Pragma was not disclosed by PFT .

    It, however, elaborated that it proposes to use the investment for intensifying its development efforts of the software as a service (SaaS) products including its CLEAR Media ERPand gaining deeper penetration and growth in strategic markets such as North America and EMEA with increased sales and marketing efforts.

    PFT’s flagship product CLEAR Media ERP is targeted at M&E companies who increasingly adopt technology to tap the digital consumer landscape while enhancing efficiencies and lowering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

    CLEAR is the world’s first and most proven cloud based Media ERP Suite that virtualizes the content supply chain and builds a connected enterprise for M&E companies.

    PFT works with more than 300 clients in India and is the chosen technology partner for more than 100 clients globally including various leading broadcasters, studios, brands, sports and digital organizations.

    PFT’s award winning CLEAR Media ERP suite and Cloud Media Services have been successfully deployed for the last eight years in global M&E companies such as 21st Century Fox-owned Star India, Novi Digital, Hotstar, Miramax, Disney, Warner Bros, Global Eagle Entertainment, Cricket Australia, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, FX Networks, Crown Media Holdings, Legendary Pictures, Starz Media, Lionsgate, A+E Networks, HBO, Mnet, CNBC Africa, SABC, IFC Films, HOOQ, Sony Music, Voot, Hearst Television, Showtime, BCCI, Indian Premier League and The Associated Press,among others.

    “Media ERP adoption in the global M&E industry has been growing steadily. With flat revenues and shrinking margins in traditional media, content enterprises especially broadcasters and studios have a tough time finding resources to invest in new monetization opportunities. M&E companies have to completely rethink technology investments and rejig their business model to survive in the new digital reality,” says PFT founder & CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan.

    The investment by Ambit Pragma istremendous market validation of the business opportunity we serve and offers us growth capital to execute on our strategy for global leadership in the Media ERP space. We are delighted to have a like-minded partner in Ambit Pragma who appreciates the realities and opportunities within the M&E industry.”

    Adds Ambit Pragma CEO Rajeev Agrawal: “PFT is a global pioneer addressing the challenge s content enterprises are facing in this hyper digital market through their cutting-edge technology. The architectural road map of the product, its multiple use cases and their management’s thought leadership, represent a compelling opportunity for us to make the investment.”

  • Prime Focus Tech gets funding from PE firm Ambit Pragma

    Prime Focus Tech gets funding from PE firm Ambit Pragma

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) – the technology offshoot of media services company Prime Focus – informed the Bombay stock exchange today that it had received its first round of funding from growth capital private equity fund Ambit Pragma.

    The amount or how much was being divested in favour of Ambit Pragma was not disclosed by PFT .

    It, however, elaborated that it proposes to use the investment for intensifying its development efforts of the software as a service (SaaS) products including its CLEAR Media ERPand gaining deeper penetration and growth in strategic markets such as North America and EMEA with increased sales and marketing efforts.

    PFT’s flagship product CLEAR Media ERP is targeted at M&E companies who increasingly adopt technology to tap the digital consumer landscape while enhancing efficiencies and lowering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

    CLEAR is the world’s first and most proven cloud based Media ERP Suite that virtualizes the content supply chain and builds a connected enterprise for M&E companies.

    PFT works with more than 300 clients in India and is the chosen technology partner for more than 100 clients globally including various leading broadcasters, studios, brands, sports and digital organizations.

    PFT’s award winning CLEAR Media ERP suite and Cloud Media Services have been successfully deployed for the last eight years in global M&E companies such as 21st Century Fox-owned Star India, Novi Digital, Hotstar, Miramax, Disney, Warner Bros, Global Eagle Entertainment, Cricket Australia, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, FX Networks, Crown Media Holdings, Legendary Pictures, Starz Media, Lionsgate, A+E Networks, HBO, Mnet, CNBC Africa, SABC, IFC Films, HOOQ, Sony Music, Voot, Hearst Television, Showtime, BCCI, Indian Premier League and The Associated Press,among others.

    “Media ERP adoption in the global M&E industry has been growing steadily. With flat revenues and shrinking margins in traditional media, content enterprises especially broadcasters and studios have a tough time finding resources to invest in new monetization opportunities. M&E companies have to completely rethink technology investments and rejig their business model to survive in the new digital reality,” says PFT founder & CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan.

    The investment by Ambit Pragma istremendous market validation of the business opportunity we serve and offers us growth capital to execute on our strategy for global leadership in the Media ERP space. We are delighted to have a like-minded partner in Ambit Pragma who appreciates the realities and opportunities within the M&E industry.”

    Adds Ambit Pragma CEO Rajeev Agrawal: “PFT is a global pioneer addressing the challenge s content enterprises are facing in this hyper digital market through their cutting-edge technology. The architectural road map of the product, its multiple use cases and their management’s thought leadership, represent a compelling opportunity for us to make the investment.”

  • Prime Focus Technologies inks deal with Miramax

    Prime Focus Technologies inks deal with Miramax

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, has entered into an agreement with global film and television studio Miramax.

     

    PFT will utilise its Primetime Emmy Award-winning DAX, part of the CLEAR Media ERP Suite, to assist Miramax in virtualising its content supply chain and production workflows, helping to reduce content turnaround times, enhance efficiencies, and drive creative enablement.

     

    DAX allows for the secure exchange, collaboration and distribution of work-in-progress materials throughout the content creation lifecycle. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing who viewed, liked, shared and downloaded content (takes, scenes, cuts and complete films/episodes), incorporating user comments and time-code stamps for content review and approvals, transcoding, batch watermarking, image management and more.

     

    “In utilising PFT’s production solutions, DAX and Digital Dailies, Miramax’s creative teams can view in-process production content and access it in a secure on-the-go manner. PFT recently expanded upon the patent for DAX and Digital Dailies technology, demonstrating the continued evolution and development of the software,” said Prime Focus Technologies president, North America Patrick Macdonald-King.

  • Miramax appoints ‘Black Swan’ EP David Thwaites as VP film

    Miramax appoints ‘Black Swan’ EP David Thwaites as VP film

    MUMBAI: Miramax has appointed independent producer David Thwaites in the newly-created position of vice president, film, effectively immediately.

     

    Reporting to Miramax executive vice president of film & TV Zanne Devine, Thwaites will head Miramax’s film production and development activities, as the studio continues its push into all new content areas, including film, television, acquisitions and co-productions.

     

    “I’m thrilled to be joining the fantastic team at Miramax. I can’t wait to begin working on Miramax’s rich and diverse development slate, and I look forward to bringing in new projects for all of us to dive into,” Thwaites said.

     

    Devine added, “We are very excited to boost our growing production and development activities with an industry executive of David’s caliber. David has great network reach, creative intuition and production savvy.”

     

    Thwaites most recently produced Crouching Tiger II: The Green Destiny. He also served as co-president of production at Phoenix Pictures, where he led the development of many projects like Black Swan, What To Expect When You’re Expecting, Shanghai, License To Wed, Miss Potter and All The King’s Men.

     

    Miramax’s next film is Mr. Holmes, which is directed by Academy Award winner Bill Condon and starring Academy Award nominees Ian McKellen and Laura Linney. The movie is set to release on 17 July, 2015. The 9th Life of Louis Drax with Jamie Dornan, Aaron Paul and Sarah Gadon is also in the release pipeline.

  • LAFF inks film licensing deals with Sony, Disney, Miramax

    LAFF inks film licensing deals with Sony, Disney, Miramax

    MUMBAI: Continuing to assemble impressive programming assets as it prepares to debut on 15 April, over-the-air broadcast television network devoted to comedy – LAFF – has inked three individual film licensing agreements with Sony Pictures Television, The Walt Disney Studios and Miramax. The deals will bring the network some of the biggest comedic stars and performances of recent times.

     

    Stars and titles headed to LAFF from the Sony Pictures Television library include: Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise; Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle, Punchline and Nothing in Common, which co-stars Jackie Gleason; Gleason’s classic pairing with Richard Pryor in The Toy; Pryor and Gene Wilder teaming for Stir Crazy; Steel Magnolias starring Julia Roberts; Robin Williams in The Fisher King and Moscow on the Hudson; Steve Martin in Roxanne and Mixed Nuts; John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Neighbors and also This is Spinal Tap, About Last Night and St. Elmo’s Fire.

     

    Library movies from The Walt Disney Studios include: Splash, starring Tom Hanks; Robin Williams and John Travolta in Old Dogs; Ellen DeGeneres chasing Mr. Wrong; Jungle 2 Jungle, starring Tim Allen and Martin Short; Eddie Murphy as The Distinguished Gentleman; John Cusack in High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank as well as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, Cool Runnings, Mr. 3000 and The Ref.

     

    Films and stars from the Miramax library include: Kevin Smith’s breakthrough comedy Clerks; Flirting With Disaster, starring Ben Stiller; Keeping Up With The Steins with Jeremy Piven and Cheryl Hines; Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader in Adventureland; Robert Altman’s Pret-A-Porter, with Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins; an all-star cast in Beautiful Girls; Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler and Jason Biggs in Jersey Girl; Matthew Broderick in The Night We Never Met and William H. Macy and Steve Zahn in Happy, Texas.

     

    LAFF will feature a mix of contemporary off-network sitcoms and popular theatrical motion pictures, with a target audience of adults 18-49.

  • MipJunior 2014: Revolution Studios names Miramax as global TV and digital distributor

    MipJunior 2014: Revolution Studios names Miramax as global TV and digital distributor

    CANNES: The ongoing MipJunior at Palm Beach in Cannes, France is the hotspot for major announcements from world over. In one such development, Revolution Studios has announced its association with Miramax which will now manage the Studios’ global television and digital distribution licensing titles, including all titles from the recently acquired Morgan Creek international film library.

     

    While the terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, the agreement expands the current alliance, under which Miramax has represented Revolution in the US since June 2012. Miramax will begin representing Revolution’s titles internationally as rights begin to revert back to Revolution, while Morgan Creek titles are immediately available internationally from Miramax.

     

    “We are excited to take this next step in our relationship with Miramax, which has proven to be a formula for success on the domestic front,” announced Revolution chief executive officer Vince Totino.

     

    Revolution COO Scott Hemming said, “The Miramax global sales team is among the most respected and creative in the industry and we look forward to working with them to broaden our diverse library worldwide. Miramax representing Revolution globally is the next natural step in continuing our collaboration of our already established and strong domestic foundation.”

     

    Revolution titles represented by Miramax include more than 40 top tier Hollywood films such as: Black Hawk Down, America’s Sweethearts, 13 Going on 30, Maid in Manhattan, XXX and Daddy Day Care.

     

    The Morgan Creek titles acquired by Revolution and now represented by Miramax include: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, True Romance, The Last of the Mohicans and Major League.

     

    “Miramax is proud to expand its partnership with Revolution and we are excited to now represent the Revolution and Morgan Creek titles internationally. This fantastic collection of content is highly complementary to the Miramax catalog, providing us unique positioning within the international TV and digital landscape,” said Miramax executive VP worldwide TV sales Joe Patrick.

     

    The Miramax global sales team has successfully brought hundreds of titles to existing and emerging platforms in nearly every country in the world, including free and premium linear TV, subscription video-on-demand and ad-supported video-on-demand. Miramax will now include the Revolution and Morgan Creek titles in their international offering, maximising distribution of these film catalogs around the world.

  • Eurocinema, Miramax enter VoD film pact

    Eurocinema, Miramax enter VoD film pact

    MUMBAI: On the heels of its successful TV partnership with “My French Film Festival,” Eurocinema®, North America’s VOD movie network, has announced a multi-year agreement with Miramax making European films of all time available on demand.

    Beginning on 15 March, Eurocinema will debut some of the most exciting films from Miramax’s extensive international catalog. Popular Miramax foreign titles featured this month will be highlighted by the leading ladies of the big screen including Malena with Monica Bellucci, About Adam with Kate Hudson, Daughter of D’Artangnan (Revenge of the Musketeers) with Sophie Marceau, and Dirty Pretty Things with Audrey Tatou.

    Eurocinema chairman, CEO Sebastien Perioche said, “Eurocinema’s partnership with Miramax is unprecedented. Never before will such a high quality and diversified collection of world screen gems be available in one place and on demand. Eurocinema has become the go-to destination for fans of European cinema.”

    Eurocinema is currently available to over 35 million subscribers via cable and telco systems, on such major providers as Comcast, Cablevision, Charter and Verizon, among others.

    New Miramax titles will be made available each month, adding to Eurocinema’s already robust offering of films on demand. Titles will be available to view for $3.95-$4.99.