Jiaflix Partners with China Movie Channel Web Affiliate M1905; Will Stream PARAMOUNT Library

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Category: Business/Financial News

Published on Sunday, 15 July 2012 00:11

Written by Janet Walker

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Jiaflix Enterprises principals Sid Ganis, Marc Ganis and Kenneth Huang, and M1905, the official internet subsidiary of China Movie Channel/CCTV6 jointly announced recently an exclusive venture to stream both Chinese and international feature films throughout China.

The long term agreement names Jiaflix, a U.S./China enterprise, M1905’s exclusive authorized party for the importation of international films and libraries from North America and Europe for new media, internet streaming and mobile devices and offers on a subscription basis (SVOD), as well as international feature films on a transactional video on demand basis (TVOD).

“China has the largest number of online users in the world, and M1905.com, commonly known as China Movie Web, is SARFT’s official internet movie site. The M1905.com web site is dedicated solely to movies and caters to fans of both domestic Chinese and international films. It averages more than 16 million page views and 4 million unique visitors daily, has more than 3 million registered users and has been growing rapidly, more than doubling year to year,” said Jiaflix principal Marc Ganis. Jiaflix also announced today that it has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Paramount Pictures to include titles from Paramount’s extensive and renowned film library for both SVOD and TVOD.

“This is an important step for Paramount in terms of positioning our product in China,” said Hal Richardson, President, Paramount Home Media Distribution. “Paramount has worked with China Movie Channel for many years and we are happy to be expanding our relationship and online movie viewership in China through our deal with Jiaflix.”

M1905’s Director and Vice President, Longfei Liang, adds, “We are delighted to make this announcement with our partners at Jiaflix. China has a long and storied history in films. New media distribution of films is the future and M1905 is excited to be working with Jiaflix and Paramount Pictures, an iconic Hollywood studio, in bringing great movies to our expanding online audience.”

The agreement with Paramount is the first under the Jiaflix partnership with M1905 that will see licensing deals with several other North American and European content providers.

In a separate development, Jiaflix and M1905 have announced a program to combat internet piracy in China. “We will use our advantages and strengths to help copyright owners protect and enforce their rights throughout China,” Mr. Liang stated.

The Press Conference, held at The Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, included the opportunity to present questions.

Janet Walker: You’ve mentioned combating piracy as a priority, what would the price point be, in order to discourage piracy, and do you plan to export the films to cities with high concentration of Chinese around the world?

Marc Ganis: I can answer. While the price point hasn’t been set, Three to five RMB (Chinese Yuan Renminbi) typically is the case, we’re not going to go above that and if anything we’ll try to come in below that again to encourage people to take these films in a legal authorized manner to have it priced low enough to have the quality and ease of opportunity so they will want to do it this way. 

Your second question is part of our venture that we didn’t talk extensively about today. Essentially there is a set box (cable box) that can tap into the M1905 data base, movie and information, as part of our venture we are going to export that to high concentration areas like those you mentioned NY and other parts of the world as well. So it’s interesting that you mentioned it because we didn’t go into that specifically but that as it is part of the venture.

The Princiapls

M1905 is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the China Movie Channel, which is under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) of the People’s Republic of China. China Movie Channel is that country’s largest television buyer of international movies and has agreements with virtually all of the major movie studios. M1905 sub-licenses domestic Chinese films to a number of video web sites in China. In June 2012, M1905’s mobile television service officially started operations with China Mobile and China Telecom’s mobile video service allowing M1905 to provide officially licensed content and VOD service to the more than 100 million 3G mobile subscribers in China.

Sid Ganis’ long affiliation within the film industry along with his recent role in China as Honorary Chairperson of Wuxi Studio Development and Promotion Committee, assisted in bringing this venture to fruition. He is a former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and previously held roles as Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and President of Paramount Pictures. Ganis is currently an independent producer at his company Out of the Blue Entertainment and Co-Executive Producer on last year’s ABC Television series PAN AM.

Kenneth Huang is a China based entrepreneur and investor. He is active in a number of important business sectors in China including capital markets, infrastructure construction, sports and entertainment. Mr. Huang is a successful philanthropist and was voted the most popular philanthropist by Sina.com and BQ Magazine in December 2009. Mr. Huang was raised in China and educated in the United States.

Marc Ganis is President and Founder of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago based sports business advisory firm. Mr. Ganis has been involved in a number of the most visible and valuable sports business transactions in the U.S. He has been active in China for more than a decade in the capital markets, sports and entertainment sectors.

About M1905 - M1905.com (1905 - Beijing - Networking Technology Company Limited) was founded by China Movie Channel, which is under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, on December 31, 2004. At present the average daily visitors number 4 million with average daily page views of more than 16 million. With more than 3 million registered members, it has become one of the most well-known Chinese online movie sites.

About Jiaflix Enterprises - Jiaflix is an enterprise formed by principals Marc Ganis, Sid Ganis, and Kenneth Huang. To participate in enhancing cultural cooperation between China and the international film  community, with focus on studios in enthusiasts. 

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