Twentieth Century Fox and SmartJog Announce Agreement for Electronic Distribution of Digital Cinema Content to Europe

LOS ANGELES, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Twentieth Century Fox and SmartJog announced today that they have signed a non-exclusive agreement for satellite distribution of digital cinema content to theatres in Europe.  Under the terms of the agreement, SmartJog will deliver Twentieth Century Fox movies in digital format to exhibitors connected to SmartJog's Pan-European digital cinema network.

Julian Levin, Executive Vice President, Digital Exhibition and Non-Theatrical Sales and Distribution, Twentieth Century Fox commented, "we are very pleased to conclude a content distribution services agreement with SmartJog to deliver Fox's digital movies via satellite to the ever increasing number of SmartJog equipped theatres across Europe. With the rapidly increasing footprint of digital projection systems, 2D and 3D, coupled with emerging electronic distribution platforms, SmartJog has taken a leadership role toward providing a more efficient electronic delivery methodology which we believe will ultimately dominate the means by which movies are delivered to theatres worldwide. We congratulate our colleagues at SmartJog and look forward to working closely with them in the future as they expand their base of theatres."

SmartJog provides optimized transmission via satellite, network monitoring, traffic supervision and storage solutions tailored to the digital cinema industry.  SmartJog currently has over 160 cinemas and more than 800 screens connected to its network in Europe with over 300 sites planned by the end of the year.  

European Motion Picture exhibitors are already receiving digital cinema content via the SmartJog network, with over 70 feature films and hundreds of trailers and screen advertising content transmitted since early 2009.

"We are thrilled about this agreement and look forward to providing Fox with a complete end-to-end digital delivery solution to theatres," said Julien Seligmann, CEO at SmartJog.  "As the cinema world continues the transition to an all-digital workflow, Fox's selection of SmartJog as an electronic delivery method to cinemas, showcases their leadership role in the digital cinema community."

The SmartJog global network interconnects all major digital cinema service providers and mastering facilities globally.  SmartJog is the only digital delivery service provider in the industry today whose solution enable distributors with secure and reliable transmission of DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) between digital cinema mastering facilities, service providers and theatres. The SmartJog service eliminates the need to send digital files on hard drives.

About Fox Filmed Entertainment

One of the world's largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, Fox Filmed Entertainment produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world.  These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of FFE:  Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox Animation.

About SmartJog

www.smartjog.com

SmartJog, a TDF subsidiary and the global leader in digital delivery with presence in 65 countries, offers a fully managed distribution and file transfer platform for the secure, fast, and reliable digital delivery of content.  SmartJog is the trusted partner for the global exchange of all the Hollywood Studios' most critical content.  SmartJog's digital cinema solutions provide a centralized place for clients' digital cinema needs, including distribution, localization, storage and asset management of Digital Cinema Packages.  The SmartJog technology and satellite platform is at the core of TDF's digital cinema strategy and SmartJog works closely with the other TDF's subsidiaries to expand the service to all European countries.  SmartJog currently has over 160 cinema sites and more than 800 digital screens connected in Europe.  

SOURCE SmartJog