SPTI Inks French VOD Deal

LONDON, April 12: Sony Pictures
Television International has signed a deal with VirginMega in France to
make movies and TV shows available on an online VOD basis, and is adding
content to the Alice broadband IPTV service.

Virgin Stores, a subsidiary of the Lagadere Group since July
2001, launched virginmega.fr in July 2004. The on-demand site offers digital
music and video content. Its agreement with SPTI is its first with a Hollywood
studio.

SPTI movies
and TV content will be available on the site www.virginmega.fr, which receives
1.6 million unique visitors per month. In addition, subscribers to the Alice broadband service in France can
view Sony Pictures content on the Mes Vidéos à la Carte service using a set top
box with their TVs. The Mes Vidéos à la Carte service is powered by VirginMega.

Titles covered in the deal include Little Man and Monster House, as well as XXX, Men in Black, Charlie’s
Angels, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, among others. Users have 48 hours of unlimited
viewing from the first play on their PCs or TV sets. Movies may be downloaded
to PCs and held for a period of up to 30 days; on the Alice Mes Vidéos à la
Carte service, movies may be held for a period of up to 7 days.

Stuart
Baxter, the executive VP of European distribution at SPTI, said in announcing
the deal: “SPTI is delighted to be the first Hollywood studio to offer movie
content on VirginMega’s VOD service. VirginMega is a major player and already a
significant partner in our home entertainment business and we want to build on
that success. We are actively developing the transactional and on-demand part
of our distribution business, enabling more and more people to buy or rent our
content using their TVs or their PCs. Our agreement with VirginMega in France
demonstrates our faith in and commitment to this important and growing part of
our business.”