Celestial Pictures Limited, Saban Capital Group and Lionsgate Partner to Form Celestial Tiger Entertainment

HONG KONG, Dec. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Celestial Pictures Limited, Saban Capital Group and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) announced today the creation of Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), an independent Asian media company focused on branded pay TV channels, content creation and distribution across Asia.

Celestial Pictures is a wholly owned unit of Astro which owns and operates, among other businesses, the preeminent DTH platform in Malaysia, owns the legendary Shaw Brothers Film Library and distributes movie channels globally; Saban Capital Group is a leading private investment firm specializing in the media, entertainment and communications industries; and Lionsgate is the world's largest independent filmed entertainment studio.

CTE's Board of Directors will include representatives from Saban Capital Group, Celestial Pictures and Lionsgate. 

CTE brings together a unique bouquet of pay channel offerings for Asian consumers by combining Celestial Pictures' flagship channels, Celestial Movies, the most broadly distributed 24-hour Chinese movie channel in the world featuring the best of Chinese and other hit Asian films, Celestial Classic Movies, the gateway to an array of Chinese martial arts, drama, comedy and action movie masterpieces, and Celestial Movies On Demand, Celestial's subscription video on demand service, with the three pay TV channels of Tiger Gate Entertainment, the Lionsgate/Saban Capital Group partnership in Asia -- KIX, the ultimate in action entertainment, Thrill, Asia's only horror and suspense movie channel, and KIX HD, featuring the best of action with a late night dose of thrillers in high definition.

The three companies noted that the alliance is designed to bring their Asian pay TV channel operations to the next level of performance through a significant capital investment by Saban Capital Group and an extension of their channel distribution footprint while achieving significant synergies through a scaled platform.  They also noted that CTE will continue to expand and roll out new channels through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

Celestial Pictures will continue to own and distribute the legendary Shaw Brothers Film Library and CTE will license content from Celestial Pictures for its channels.  CTE will also be the exclusive sales agent for all of Lionsgate's content in Southeast Asia and China.  

Celestial Pictures has been a leader in Asian language film and television production and distribution and operation of TV channels since its formation in 2001. Tiger Gate, founded by William Pfeiffer and Paul Presburger and owned jointly by Lionsgate and Saban Capital Group since April 2010, has launched its branded KIX and Thrill channels on two platforms in Hong Kong, six platforms in Indonesia, two platforms in Singapore, one platform in Thailand and two platforms in the Philippines.

Ross Pollack, CEO of Celestial Pictures Limited, said, "Combining our channel bouquet with Tiger Gate's channel offerings will create a powerful collection of unique brands with distinctive programming specifically catering to Asian markets.  Coupled with the synergies in operations and new content creation for the channels, I am confident that Celestial Tiger Entertainment will create more value for all of the partners involved.  We are also pleased to partner with such distinguished and successful companies as Saban Capital Group and Lionsgate." 

"We're delighted to continue our partnership with Saban Capital Group and join with Celestial Pictures in an alliance that reflects the continued growth of our Asian channel business," said Lionsgate Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer.  "Celestial Tiger Entertainment blends the complementary strengths and skill sets of three companies well positioned to capitalize on opportunities in the Asian filmed entertainment and pay TV marketplace and allows us to enrich our pipeline of content and extend our distribution footprint throughout the region."

Adam Chesnoff, President and Chief Operating Officer of Saban Capital Group, said, "Our investment in this new partnership with both Celestial Pictures and Lionsgate further supports our commitment to the media and entertainment space in Asia.  We are pleased to expand our relationship with Lionsgate and to create a new strategic alliance with Celestial Pictures.  We are very excited about Celestial Tiger Entertainment's prospects to build a leading position in channel distribution, content distribution and content creation across Asia."  Chesnoff noted that CTE will be the company's fourth investment in Asia.

William Pfeiffer, Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Gate, said, "I am thrilled that two of the companies I helped launch are joining forces to create a pay TV platform with unparalleled content, unique strengths and extraordinary resources.  CTE will be uniquely positioned as the only company of its size and scope in Asia that is not part of an international media conglomerate."

Celestial Tiger Entertainment will be headquartered in Hong Kong and will include staff from both Celestial Movies Channels and Tiger Gate.

For inquiries, please contact:

For Celestial Tiger Entertainment
Pauline Poon, Public Relations Manager
Tel: +852 2626 8131
[email protected]

For Saban Capital Group in the U.S.
Stephanie Pillersdorf, Sard Verbinnen & Co.
Tel: +1 (212) 687 8080
[email protected]

For Saban Capital Group in Asia
Kreab Gavin Anderson (Hong Kong)
Tel: +852 2218 9910
Richard Barton or Robert Koh
[email protected]
[email protected]

For Lionsgate
Peter D. Wilkes
Tel: +1 (310) 255 3726
[email protected]

About Celestial Tiger Entertainment

Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE) is a diversified media company dedicated to entertaining audiences in Asia and beyond. The company focuses on the operation of branded pay television channels, content creation and content distribution targeted at Asian consumers.

CTE operates a powerful bouquet of distinct pay television channels including: Celestial Movies, the most broadly distributed 24-hour Chinese and Asian movies channel in the world; Celestial Classic Movies, the gateway to an unparalleled array of Chinese movie masterpieces; Celestial Movies On Demand, Celestial's subscription video on demand service; KIX, the ultimate in action entertainment; Thrill, Asia's only horror and suspense movie channel; and KIX HD, featuring the best of action with a late-night dose of thrillers in high definition.

As one of Asia's largest vertically integrated entertainment companies, CTE produces original content which complements its channels business. CTE is also the exclusive sales agent of content in all media in Southeast Asia and China from independent Hollywood studio Lionsgate.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, CTE is a joint venture among Saban Capital Group, a leading private investment firm specializing in the media, entertainment and communications industries; Celestial Pictures, a major Asian entertainment company wholly-owned by Astro, the owner and operator of the leading DTH platform in Malaysia; and Lionsgate, the world's largest independent filmed entertainment studio.

For more information, please visit www.celestialtiger.com.

About Celestial Pictures Limited

Celestial Pictures is a diversified entertainment company bringing the best in Asian entertainment to the world. The company focuses on Asian-language film and television content origination, aggregation and worldwide distribution.

Celestial Pictures owns the Shaw Brothers Film Library, the world's largest Chinese film collection, with over 760 feature films originally released over half a century's time frame. These award-winning Shaw Brothers films have been digitally restored frame-by-frame, and distributed in cinemas and on home video, television, and new media markets worldwide. The company is also active in producing new filmed content, both original and based on the Shaw Brothers Film Library.

Celestial Pictures also owns three leading Chinese movie channels, CELESTIAL MOVIES, CELESTIAL MOVIES ON DEMAND and CELESTIAL CLASSIC MOVIES. These channels are operated through Celestial Tiger Entertainment, its joint venture with Saban Capital Group and Lionsgate, which has in total six leading regional pay television brands including KIX, KIX HD and THRILL. 

Headquartered in Hong Kong, Celestial Pictures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd.

About Lionsgate

Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution and new channel platforms. The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming through Debmar-Mercury and an array of channel assets. Lionsgate currently has 15 shows on more than 10 networks spanning its prime time production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as "Mad Men", "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie" along with the comedy "Blue Mountain State," the critically-acclaimed drama "Boss" and the syndication successes "Tyler Perry's House Of Payne", its spinoff "Meet The Browns", "The Wendy Williams Show" and "Are We There Yet?".

Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent successes as THE LINCOLN LAWYER, TYLER PERRY'S MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY, MARGIN CALL, THE EXPENDABLES, THE LAST EXORCISM, TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO?, KICK ASS and the critically-acclaimed PRECIOUS, which won two Academy Awards®. The Company's home entertainment business has grown to more than 8% market share and is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 13,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand remains synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

About Saban Capital Group

Saban Capital Group (SCG) is a leading private investment firm based in Los Angeles specializing in the media, entertainment, and communication industries. SCG was established in 2001 by Haim Saban, co-founder of Fox Family Worldwide, a global television broadcasting, production, distribution and merchandising company owned in partnership with Rupert Murdoch and The News Corporation until its sale to The Walt Disney Company in October 2001. The firm currently makes both controlling and minority investments in public and private companies and takes an active role in its portfolio companies. SCG's current private equity investments include Univision (the premier Spanish-language media company in the US), Celestial Tiger Entertainment, Taomee (China's leading children's online entertainment company) and MNC (Indonesia's largest and only vertically-integrated media company). Saban Brands LLC, an affiliate of SCG, was formed in 2010 to acquire, manage and license entertainment properties and consumer brands across media and consumer platforms globally, and currently holds the rights to Power Rangers and Paul Frank Industries in its portfolio. In addition, SCG actively manages a globally diversified portfolio of investments across public equities, credit, alternative investments and real property assets. For more information, please visit www.saban.com.

SOURCE Lionsgate