April 20, 2008

Five Studio Premium TV Venture Will Have Big Online Focus

Iron Man: Coming To New Premium TV In 2009
Rarely is a major corporate announcement made on a Sunday afternoon, but that's exactly what five Hollywood studio heads did today, spewing out a real conversation starter in the process. Viacom through its Paramount Pictures and Paramount Vantage units will be teaming up with Lionsgate, MGM and United Artists in a joint venture that will launch a premium TV channel and VOD service in the fall of 2009.

The five studio co-op will have access to Paramount and Paramount Vantage titles released theatrically after January 1, 2008 and MGM, United Artists and Lionsgate titles released theatrically after January 1, 2009, according to the press release. Viacom will head operational support for the JV, with marketing help from its own MTV Networks. While definitely something to look forward to as premium content is a real pain in the ass to find when it comes to cable providers these days, perhaps most interesting is Viacom CEO's revelation that online movie distribution will play a big part in the JV's future plans. In fact in an interview with Philippe Dauman, CEO of Viacom, Rafat Ali from Paidcontent.org was apparently told, the JV's distribution strategy will have a definite online emphasis.

This will definitely be good for movie viewers, and its important to note that by premium, the JV is referring to the quality of the content. While we kinda doubt it, the new channel could be released as a basic cable addition. Unfortunately, some current cable channels will be hit hard, like Showtime, poised to lose programming from Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate only to face a tough new competitor in the as-of-yet unnamed venture.