Television
April 7, 2008
Warner Bros. International Television Distribution And Home Box Office Sign Landmark Multi-Year Deal As Initial Programming Suppliers To France Telecom Orange’s New Multi-Platform Pay TV Service
(April 7, 2008 – Cannes, France) - Warner Bros. International Television Distribution and HBO have signed a landmark multi-year deal to be the initial suppliers of programming to France Telecom Orange’s just-announced multi-platform pay television service, it was announced today by Jeffrey Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. International Television Distribution and Charles Schreger, President, Programming Sales, HBO.
Under the terms of the deal, a wide variety of programming from both companies will be made available across a number of platforms. From WBITD, Orange has acquired the rights to all of Warner Bros.’ current and upcoming feature films (“Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix,” “Ocean’s 13,” “I am Legend,” “The Dark Knight”), as well as select titles from the studio’s extensive feature and television library. In HBO’s first-ever output deal in France, Orange has acquired rights to HBO series, films and miniseries, including the acclaimed miniseries “John Adams,” the upcoming Alan Ball series’ “True Blood,” and David Simon’s miniseries “Generation Kill,” as well as select documentaries and library titles. Warner Bros. and HBO are both Time Warner companies.
As announced by Orange at MIPTV, this new service is expected to be available to consumers in the fourth quarter of 2008. Caroline Lang, Vice President & General Manager, France and Alex Ogilvie, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Europe, brokered the deal on behalf of WBITD; Royce Battleman, Senior Vice President, Business Affairs, Film Acquisition managed negotiations on behalf of HBO.
“Orange has been a great partner to us since we signed their very first VOD deal some four years ago,” said Schlesinger. “The deal we’ve announced today will help Orange provide consumers with more choices and greater access to world-class programming and we’re proud to be a part of that.”
“This is a monumental deal for HBO with a wonderful partner in Orange,” said Schreger. “We are thrilled that the breadth and depth of HBO’s high quality programming will be enjoyed by French audiences and made available to them on their preferred platform.”
“We are particularly proud to have signed this important deal that will offer consumers broad access to our product while spreading and reinforcing the digital services offering in the French market,” said Iris Knobloch, Président-Directeur General, Warner Bros. France.
Warner Bros. International Television Distribution
Warner Bros. International Television Distribution is one of the world’s largest distributors of feature films, television programs and animation to the international television marketplace (broadcast, pay cable, basic cable, satellite, pay-per-view, video-on-demand, digital platforms, etc.). It licenses some 50,000 hours of programming (including more than 6,000 features and 70-plus current series), dubbed or subtitled in more than 40 languages, to telecasters and cablecasters in more than 175 countries.
HBO
Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., providing two 24-hour pay television services – HBO and Cinemax – to over 40 million U.S. subscribers. The services offer the most popular subscription video on demand products, HBO On Demand and Cinemax On Demand, as well as HBO on Broadband, HD feeds, and multiplex channels. Internationally, HBO's branded television networks, along with the subscription video on demand products HBO On Demand and HBO Mobile, bring HBO services to over 50 countries. HBO programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide. # # #