Television
June 21, 2010
LOVEFiLM And Warner Bros. Entertainment Sign Landmark Film Distribution Pact
(June 21, 2010 – Burbank, CA and London) - Warner Bros. Entertainment has agreed to a multi-layered UK film distribution agreement with leading European film and TV subscription service, LOVEFiLM, it was announced today by Josh Berger, President & Managing Director, Warner Bros. UK; Malcolm Dudley-Smith, Executive Vice President–Business Management, Warner Bros. International Branded Services; and Simon Calver, Chief Executive, LOVEFiLM.
The multi-year pact sees Warner Bros. International Branded Services’ movie subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, WarnerFilms, debut on LOVEFiLM’s Player; a large collection of Warner Bros. UK’s new release titles being offered via transactional video-on-demand (TVOD); and all new release movies being offered on a physical DVD and Blu-ray rental basis from now onwards.
Offering a great selection of recent movies from Warner Bros’ portfolio, WarnerFilms provides 24 hour a day on-demand access to 28 films a month with seven new titles added every week. It will be available online and direct to Internet-enabled TV from this week onwards. Over the coming months, the service will deliver titles such as "Batman Begins," "Zodiac," "The Matrix" and "The Wedding Singer."
In addition, selected new release titles such as "The Blind Side" and "Clash of the Titans" will be made available to LOVEFiLM members on a TVOD basis on the same day as the retail release. All new release titles will then be available to rent on DVD and Blu-ray 28 days after the retail release.
Josh Berger, President & Managing Director, Warner Bros. UK said, “This terrific deal underlines our commitment to providing consumers with as many opportunities to view our world class content as possible. LOVEFiLM subscribers will now enjoy long term, multiple access points to a fantastic selection of new release and catalogue titles, many of which will be available at the touch of a button, 24 hours a day.”
Malcolm Dudley-Smith, Executive Vice President–Business Management, Warner Bros. International Branded Services, commented, “This latest deployment of WarnerFilms further extends our growing footprint in the UK and, for the first time, allows consumers to view this compelling branded service on their PC.”
Simon Calver, CEO of LOVEFiLM, added: “We’re delighted with this new agreement as it adds significant streamed content to our ever-expanding ‘Watch Online’ service. It also cements a highly valued long term relationship with Warner Bros. in the DVD rental space and will help us to expand LOVEFiLM into a hybrid film delivery service that gives our members the titles they want, in the way and time they want to watch them.”
About Warner Bros. International Branded Services
Warner Bros. International Branded Services runs branded SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) and AVOD (advertiser-supported video-on-demand) channels around the globe. In May, it launched WarnerFilms, its first movie SVOD service in the UK on BT Vision to complement its service in Finland on the Elisa platform.
Its TV SVOD service, WarnerTV, features around-the-clock, on-demand access to drama, comedy and sci-fi television series and theatrical motion pictures. It currently operates on 19 platforms across Europe including FASTWEB in Italy, Videoload and Maxdome in Germany, Imagenio in Spain, Telekom Austria in Austria, Elisa in Finland, Ziggo in the Netherlands, vod.onet.pl in Poland and Free in France, and is available on USEN Corporation’s GyaO in Japan and QOOK TV in Korea.
Additionally, Warner Bros. International Branded Services operates the highly successful linear Warner Channel throughout Latin America, debuted WB India in 2009 and has launched a WarnerTV-branded, 24-hour, linear general entertainment channel throughout Asia, with distribution handled by HBO Asia.
About LOVEFiLM
In a little over 6 years, LOVEFiLM has become a leading European film and TV subscription service combining the benefits of instantly watched movies via the LOVEFiLM Player on your TV or PC, and DVD rental - allowing customers to choose how they want to watch. With a selection of over 67,000 titles, including HD/Blu-ray and video games, LOVEFiLM offers Europe’s largest choice.
LOVEFiLM has over 1.4 million members and operates in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany.
LOVEFiLM weekly newsletters reach over one million members.
LOVEFiLM was a pioneer in digital film delivery in the UK and has recently launched the LOVEFiLM Player with thousands of digital titles available for members to watch on their TV or PC. The LOVEFiLM Player is available to all users of LOVEFiLM. For those on an Unlimited package the service comes at no extra cost. Premium titles are available to everyone on a pay-per-view basis, and a number of titles are available to all site visitors for free with advertising support.
The LOVEFiLM Player is becoming available through a range of internet-enabled devices - including Sony and Samsung - taking LOVEFiLM directly into members’ living rooms through their TV sets.
LOVEFiLM customers have generated 80 million ratings, 843,000 member reviews and generate around 2 million trailer views per month – information which helps LOVEFiLM to promote the most relevant titles for customers to choose from.
LOVEFiLM also sells DVDs, Blu-ray and video games through the LOVEFiLM shop.
LOVEFiLM was Hitwise’s top website for July – Dec 2009 based on market share of visits among all UK websites in the Entertainment - Movies industry (ranked 4th in the Shopping and Classifieds - Video and Games industry).
LOVEFiLM offers a range of rental options in each market with free postage and no late fees. In the UK, these include £3.99 a month allowing members to have one DVD at a time (limit of two per month), £5.99 a month for one DVD at a time (limit of three per month), £7.99 for two DVDs at a time (limit of four per month), £9.99 a month for one DVD out at a time (Unlimited), £12.99 for two at a time (Unlimited) and £15.99 gives the option for three DVDs at a time (Unlimited). Members on an Unlimited package have access to the LOVEFiLM Player at no extra cost
LOVEFiLM also offers a range of video games rental options in the UK market to support gaming across XBox 360, Xbox, PS3, PS2, Wii and DS. These include £9.99 a month for two discs at a time (limit of three per month), £14.99 a month for two discs (Unlimited) and £18.99 for three discs at a time (Unlimited), all with free postage and no late fees.
LOVEFiLM UK awards include: British Video Association's award for the UK's Best Rental Service in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, won the fast-growing media company Media Momentum award in 2005, 2007 and 2008, UK technology – Innovation & Growth award for Mediatech Impact of the Year 2008, Home Entertainment Week awards for Rentailer of the Year 2007 and 2008, the 2008 Fast Growth Business Award for Retail/Leisure business of the Year, awarded 9th place in The Sunday Times top 100 fastest growing private technology companies 2009 (2nd in 2008, 5th in 2007), awarded 3rd place in The Sunday Times top 100 private equity-backed companies with the fastest-growing profits in 2010, a finalist in the National Customer Service Awards 2008, finalist in the Retail Week awards 2009, awarded 5th place in the Deloitte Fast 50 UK 2009, awarded 22nd place in the Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA fastest growing public and private technology companies and named Company Of The Year at the Growing Business Awards 2009.
The group currently works with major partners in the UK including Tesco, easy Group, CD Wow, Guardian News Media, WHSmith, Odeon and Vue Cinemas, some of whom offer a fully white-labeled online DVD rental service. ###