SPTI, ProSiebenSat.1 Group Extend VOD Deal

LONDON, April 21: Sony
Pictures Television International (SPTI) has concluded a multi-year deal with
Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 Group to
continue supplying a range of movies and TV series to maxdome, the company’s
online video store and VOD portal.

The new deal is an extension of SPTI and ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s existing
partnership for maxdome. Under the new
agreement, maxdome customers can now digitally rent a range of Sony Pictures’
current and library movies titles on www.maxdome.de.
The lineup includes blockbuster films such as Spider-Man 2, starring Tobey
Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines with Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Men in Black II, featuring
Will Smith. Furthermore, the deal gives maxdome users access to current series
such as Damages, starring Golden
Globe-winner Glenn
Close, and the Emmy Award-winning drama The
Tudors, with Jonathan Rhys Myers and
Peter O’Toole. Episodes of these premium programs are available on maxdome from
up to one week before they air on free TV. Library titles are available on both
a subscription VOD and a transactional VOD basis.

Customers will also be able to access a
selection of library TV series via Screen Gems,
SPTI’s classic TV on-demand service, including titles such as Charlie’s Angels, I
Dream of Jeannie and the hit ‘90s series, Married…
With Children. These can all be viewed on a subscription VOD or on a transactional VOD basis.

Dr. Marcus Englert, who heads up the Diversification
Unit at ProSiebenSat.1 Group, said: “The deal with SPTI enables maxdome to
carry the highest quality Hollywood productions along with some of the most
successful U.S. TV series of all time. This all-embracing agreement brings a
new and exciting offering to our subscribers.”

Added Stuart Baxter, SPTI’s
executive VP of European distribution: “We have built a
great relationship with ProSieben and we are delighted with how they are
creating innovative new services with our content and in particular with their
work on our Screen Gems service. Increasingly customers are expecting content
to be available in all business models; subscription, pay per view and for free
through advertiser funding. This agreement meets consumers’ expectation by
enabling them to access content through subscription and on an à la carte basis.”

—By Irene Lew