Intertainment Holding
SightSound.com Announces Cooperation
with Disney-Subsidiary Miramax
Munich, April 26, 2000 -
Renowned US production company Miramax, a Disney subsidiary, and Internet-based
SightSound.com have signed an initial agreement concerning the online
distribution rights of 12 films. SightSound.com is an industry leader in
providing movie downloads from the Internet. Only a few weeks ago,
SightSound.com also signed an agreement with Franchise Pictures, another key US
production company. Munich-based media group Intertainment AG holds 26 per cent
of the Internet company.
Within the framework of this agreement, SightSound.com will provide Disney's
Miramax with the technology required to enable US Internet users to download
films via the World Wide Web for either rental or purchase. The movies will be
available directly from the Disney subsidiary's Web site. "The importance
of the Internet is increasing rapidly, and SightSound.com offers us an excellent
opportunity to utilize this new medium for selling our films," explained
Harvey Weinstein, CEO at Disney's Miramax.
Intertainment's chairman of the board Rüdiger Baeres said of the announcement:
"The agreements with Disney's Miramax and Franchise Pictures clearly
indicate a trend - in the long run, the Internet will have a significant role to
play in the selling of films."
Put in real terms, renting and buying videos on the Internet will replace going
to conventional video rental stores in the future, opening up a billion-dollar
market in the coming years. In the US alone, the video market has a total annual
turnover of 10 billion dollars.
Disney's Miramax subsidiary is one of the largest US production companies and is
responsible for a number of box office hits, such as "The Talented Mr.
Ripley", "The English Patient", "Good Will Hunting",
"Scream" and "Pulp Fiction". Miramax has garnered a total of
148 Oscar nominations and 42 Oscars.
SightSound.com was founded in 1995. In 1999, it was the first company to enable
Internet downloads of feature-length films. SightSound.com also developed a way
of protecting films that makes it impossible for them to be distributed or
accessed without proper authorization. Furthermore, the corporation is the owner
of the only US patent for downloading films and music via the Internet. Among
other things, SightSound.com is planning to go public later this year.
Press Contact:
Intertainment AG
Claudia Wilmans
Widenmayerstrasse 49
D - 80538 Munich
Tel.: ++49 89 / 21 69 9-0
Fax: ++49 89 / 21 69 9-11
E-mail: cwilmans@intertainment.de