ITV

Tag: Starz Encore Group

  • Movies’ future in US lies in cable, satellite: Starz CEO

    Movies’ future in US lies in cable, satellite: Starz CEO

    MUMBAI: “Movies will regularly premiere in the US on cable and satellite, rather than in theatres within the next ten years.”

    The prediction comes from Starz Encore Group chairman, founder, and CEO John J Sie. According to her, the distribution route for films is going to undergo a sea change.

    Speaking in the Harvard Business School media conference recently, she said a number of factors would contribute to this scenario. One of them is the widespread adoption of high definition television sets by Americans and the deployment of video on demand.

    The economics of the movie business will drive studios to make use of this audience to debut their films.”Last year, the theatrical screenings of films generated about $5 billion in revenue for the studios compared with $4 billion from cable and satellite. Clearly, we are rapidly approaching the tipping point where it will make more sense for studios to release their films first on cable and satellite, and later in the theaters”, she said.

    Releasing a film on satellite and cable can save millions in distribution costs, Sie pointed out. And the economics are irresistible. Sie noted that there are about five million HD capable sets in the US today. In the next decade, that figure is likely to rise to 50 million or about 50 per cent of US television households.

    “If a major studio can debut a film at a price of $19.95 which is what it costs two people to go to the theater and attract 20 per cent of HD homes to watch that would generate $200 million in revenue on the opening day. This is a blockbuster number in anybody’s book”.

    However Sie did not forecast the demise of the movie theater. “Millions of Americans still love the experience of getting out of the house and going to a theater and always will. But in the future, big films will debut in the home and create the buzz for their theatrical releases, rather than the other way around.”

    However one thing that could prove a hurdle in the predictions is the threat of piracy. Starz claims to be the largest provider of premium movie services in the US. It has around 151 million pay units.

  • Public service TV ads discourage Arab-Muslim stereotyping

    Public service TV ads discourage Arab-Muslim stereotyping

    MUMBAI: Two new television public service announcements (PSAs) that discourage ethnic stereotyping of Arab and Muslim Americans have been released. This is a joint effort between The Arab American Institute, Colorado-based Starz Encore Group, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) as well as Cleveland-based Brokaw Inc. The PSAs will run in more than 71 million American television homes with support of cable & satellite TV industries.

    The spots include the “Tolerance” PSA produced by Starz Encore Group contains images of Arab and Muslim Americans. It reminds the viewer that hostility directed toward fellow Americans just because they look like the perpetrators of the 11 September attacks is actually an attack on individual liberty.

    The “Twin Towers” PSA, produced by Brokaw Inc. of Cleveland in association with the Arab American Institute, is voiced by “Family Ties” star Michael Gross. As Gross speaks his words appear on screen and form the outlines of the twin towers as they once stood in the Manhattan skyline.

    The premium movie channel provider Starz Encore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and Brokaw Inc. produced the PSAs at their own expense. Brokaw Inc. is a full-service, award-winning creative brand development firm. The PSAs stress the vital need for tolerance and warns against hate, injustices and discrimination against Asians.

    Cable operators AOL Time Warner Cable, AT&T Broadband, Adelphia Communications, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable Communications and Cox Communications are all supporting the effort. They serve 54 million homes. The NCTA will inform its membership about the PSAs. This includes programming networks and cable television systems that reach 69 per cent of the United States’ 102 million TV households. DIRECTV will carry one or both of the PSAs.

    Starz Encore Group, the largest provider of cable and satellite delivered premium movie channels in the United States, is already airing its PSA in the heaviest rotation ever on all 13 of its movie channels. Starz Encore are uplinking the spots to the entire TV industry, including broadcasters, free of charge via three separate 15-minute satellite feeds. The first uplink took place on 21 December with two more scheduled for 27 December and 3 January at 2:00 p.m. ET.

    The feeds can be found on the Galaxy 11 satellite, transponder C08. Galaxy 11 is located at 91 degrees west. The downlink frequency will be 3860 MHz with vertical polarity. Feeds will be analog and “in the clear.”

    Starz Encore Group owns 15 American channels with approximately 107 million pay units.

    NCTA is the principal trade association of the cable television industry in the US. NCTA represents cable operators serving more than 90 per cent of the country’s cable television households and more than 200 cable programme networks.