ION Bulks Up Film Offerings with Studio Deals

NEW YORK: ION Television has acquired more than 85 feature films to add to its slate, inking deals with Hollywood studios such as Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox and Sony Pictures Television.

The deal with Warner Bros. includes 44 films, with titles such as Starsky & Hutch, The Perfect Storm, The Guardian and Analyze This as well as its sequel, Analyze That. From Twentieth Century Fox comes titles including Slumdog Millionaire and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The Sony Pictures Television package of 16 films included Ali, Vantage Point and We Own the Night. ION also picked up more than a dozen titles from MGM, including Be Cool, A Guy Thing and Into the Blue.

These acquisitions will be part of ION’s expanded daypart and late night schedule, now airing from 1 p.m. to 1 p.m. The movies begin airing this month and will continue to roll out throughout 2012.

"Proven blockbuster theatrical movies, together with our quality television series, have proven to be a successful entertainment formula with both our male and female audiences," said Brandon Burgess, the CEO of ION Media Networks. "Our recent expansion of the Big Movie Weekend block enables us to deepen our broadcast commitment to major theatrical studios."