Draken Film, Sweden’s leading streaming service for art house cinema, has launched an initiative to coax audiences back into theatres in a unique collaboration with the country’s cinemas, as they prepare to re-open after months-long closures. Starting today, Draken Film subscribers will have access to the opening weekend screenings of a hand picked selection of new releases as part of their monthly subscription offer.
Theatrical distributor Abramorama will host the world premiere of the documentary Herb Alpert Is…. The global event will take place October 1 via Facebook Live and will feature a Q&A with Herb Alpert and director John Scheinfeld moderated by the Grammy Museum’s artistic director Scott Goldman immediately following. On October 2 the film will be available via a nationwide virtual cinema release and globally on demand through Amazon, iTunes and other video-on-demand providers. The film will also be available on Blu-Ray and DVD via Amazon.
The Digital Citizens Alliance and Nagra have jointly an investigative report showcasing how illegal piracy subscription services in the United States have grown into a billion-dollar industry that steals from creators, circumvents legitimate TV operators, and poses risks for consumers. The report, entitled Money for Nothing, details how a sophisticated ecosystem of thousands of retailers and wholesalers – through content theft and enabled by legal businesses – provides illicit piracy services to at least nine million U.S. households.
Amazon Studios has acquired the worldwide rights to Oscar-winning actress Regina King’s feature directorial debut, One Night in Miami, written by Olivier-nominated Kemp Powers, based on his 2013 stage play. Producers are Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment (Blindspotting, Anomalisa) and Jody Klein of ABKCO (The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus). King and Powers are executive producers.
The Movie Studio has submitted an official application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the company says that trademark protection is pending for its recognizable name, insignia, phrase and logo.
Screenvision Media today announced an advertising sales partnership with Atmosphere, the leading streaming TV service for businesses. Screenvision will feature its own channel, Front + Center, debuting on Atmosphere's platform spanning restaurants and bars nationwide, reaching more than 500,000 daily viewers. Additionally, Screenvision's national, regional and local sales team will be the exclusive seller of Atmosphere's ad inventory across its streaming network.
Discovery Network’s Journey to the Future, produced by Storied Media, is a documentary focused on the behind-the-scenes lead-up to America’s historic SpaceX Falcon 9 launch. Several packages were also produced for use throughout the live broadcasts. Among the professionals who worked tirelessly on these projects was re-recording mixer Michael Phillips Keeley, CAS, who helped create the soundscape.
As Netflix, Disney, Amazon, and Apple battle for the estimated global $1 billion over-the-top subscription market, one company – Magine Pro, an OTT platform for mid-tier market video-on-demand and TV content – is asking the question: Will the VOD market be The Battle of the Global Giants or is there room for thematic streaming services that all together could create a wider diversity in the market? Put another way, is there enough consumer demand for specialist services for sports, kids programs, genre-specific series and movies, food and cooking services etc to make it a sustainable business?
Nagra, part of the Kudelski Group, has announced the application programming integration of NexGuard forensic watermarking technologies into Elemental MediaConvert, a file-based video transcoding service from Amazon Web Services. The API provides content owners, and any third-party working on premium content, with an added layer of security and traceability for their pre-release and early release content workflows, and simplifies the watermarking process for file transcoding and streaming content preparation.
Showcase Cinemas today launched ShowcaseNow, a new video-on-demand service designed to complement and expand upon the exhibitor’s in-theatre event cinema programming. Showcase also introduced free apps for IOS and Android.
