Documentary Channel Bags IMAX Features

NASHVILLE, April 14: Documentary
Channel (DOC) has inked a deal with Northstar Media for 21 films from IMAX
Corporation’s library that have never before aired on U.S. television.

Connecticut-based
Northstar is the distributor of IMAX’s library and has licensed to DOC the IMAX
XXI Film Package in a multi-year deal.

DOC’s founder and CEO, Tom
Neff, said in announcing the deal: “IMAX has an unparalleled reputation with both
the film industry and general public for producing extraordinary, awe-inspiring
film experiences and Documentary Channel is proud to be the network to bring
these spectacular films to North American television audiences for the first
time. They have been transferred to high def with meticulous care, and DOC is
thrilled with the opportunity of unveiling these films on television.”

The agreement includes the
Tom Hanks-narrated Magnificent Desolation, the Tom Cruise-narrated Space Station and T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous. The films to appear on DOC have a combined
estimated total of more than $600 million in gross box-office receipts,
including three of the top ten largest grossing films in IMAX history. “These
IMAX documentaries will appeal to a very broad audience: from children to
adults, from wildlife to space aficionados, from history lovers to film buffs
to the socially conscious,” Neff added.

The IMAX XXI Film Package
will premiere on DOC throughout 2008, with specific titles and telecast schedules
to be announced at a later date.

Headquartered in Nashville,
Tennessee, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, DOC launched on DISH
Network in January 2006 and now reaches more than 21 million homes nationwide.

—By Mansha Daswani