City Screen, the leading independent cinema
operator in the UK and owner of Picturehouse Cinemas, has become the latest
exhibitor to sign up to a digital cinema deal with Arts Alliance Media (AAM).
City Screen, which operates 20 sites across the UK, will benefit from AAM’s
digital cinema maintenance and support services for their 58 screens, 100% of
which are already digitised.
The sites will also be equipped with AAM’s Theatre
Management System, to manage all digital content, scheduling and security keys,
and larger sites will also receive AAM’s Library Management Server (LMS). Under
the agreement, Virtual Print Fees (VPFs) will be payable across selected sites
in the City Screen network.
AAM’s support division offers cinemas with digital projection
systems a full, proactive maintenance service, including preventative
maintenance visits, a multi-lingual telephone hotline, and remote diagnostics
via our in-house Network Operations Centre in London, which currently provides
support for over 2300 screens across Europe.
In addition to the City Screen deal, AAM has crossed the milestone
of 2000 active VPF screens across Europe – meaning there are now 2100 screens
installed and operating for which distributors are paying Virtual Print Fees to
contribute towards the cost of converting to digital – making Arts Alliance Media
the leading digital cinema integrator outside the USA. Agreements are already in
place for an additional 1000 screens, which are in the process of being
installed and activated, and negotiations are continuing with exhibitors of all
sizes for rollout of further screens.
AAM CEO Howard Kiedaisch said “Hitting the 2000 screens milestone is
a great result for AAM and all our partners, and being the biggest integrator
outside the US is a huge validation of our hard work over the past years. We’re
thrilled to be able to announce a deal with City Screen in the UK at the same time.
They’ve always been forward thinking when it comes to digital, and we look
forward to working with them to continue to provide the quality and variety
digital offers to their loyal audience.”
Lyn Goleby of City Screen added “Our cinemas are known for their
innovation and for providing a fantastic service to our customers, and with
this deal in place with AAM we’ll now be able to guarantee the quality and
reliability of our digital screens, and the efficiencies of the TMS software
means we can continue offering the widest, most flexible, programming in our
cinemas.”
