Morristown, N.J.—Sep 5, 2006
Access Integrated Technologies Announces Reorganization of Media Services Group
Group’s Christie/AIX Digital System Installations at 785 as of August 31st
Access Integrated Technologies, Inc. ("AccessIT") (NASDAQ:AIXD) today announced a reorganization of its Media Services Group designed to maximize support for both its film distribution and exhibitor customers. The announcement was keyed to the one-year anniversary of the company’s first major studio agreement.
Since signing that landmark digital cinema agreement with Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures Distribution in September 2005, the company has signed similar agreements with every major Hollywood studio including Fox, Universal, Sony, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros as well as interim agreements with Paramount, The Weinstein Company and New Line for individual titles. Also, seven major and regional independent exhibitors have signed deployment deals including Carmike Cinemas, currently the nation’s third largest chain, and Rave Motion Pictures, to install upwards of 3,000 digital cinema systems nationwide. The company is also in various stages of negotiation with a number of other domestic and international exhibitors.
Bud Mayo, Chairman and CEO of AccessIT, said: “Since its formation, AccessIT has greatly expanded the scope of services we are able to deliver to our studio and exhibitor customers. Given the dramatic growth we are now experiencing, we felt it was appropriate to unify our Christie/AIX, Digital Media Services, Software, and Unique Screen Media divisions creating a single reporting structure under the leadership of the group’s new President, Chuck Goldwater. With this action, we believe we can serve customers more effectively and respond more quickly to new opportunities as they present themselves.”
The operations of the newly restructured Media Services Group now comprise:
Christie/AIX
AccessIT’s Christie/AIX Division, committed to deploy 4,000 digital cinema systems by October 31, 2007, marked the installation of its 785th digital cinema system on August 31st – a feat accomplished through the support of digital cinema by motion picture distributors and exhibitors, and Christie/AIX’s commitment to deploy systems designed to conform with the DCI specification including CineLink 2 and video forensic watermarking that were implemented at the beginning of the summer. This approach has enabled the broad distribution of movies in the JPEG standard by all the top studios, including all of this summer’s major releases across the country.
Digital Media Services
AccessIT’s Digital Media Services Division provides customers with a variety of solutions ranging from its Theatre Command Center software to satellite and hard drive duplication and delivery services and forensic anti-piracy watermark detection services. Across the United States, theatres now running digital cinema systems are equipped with AccessIT’s unique Theatre Command Center software allowing theatre personnel to manage the entire digital cinema environment from a single, centrally located desktop, either in the theatre or remotely from the exhibitor’s corporate headquarters.
In addition to delivering digital movies in JPEG format for several studios this summer, the Digital Media Services Division provides a one-stop solution to help content owners combat movie theft by employing both Philip’s CineFence and Thomson’s NexGuard watermark detection readers. This state-of-the-art technology can decode forensic tracking information that has been encoded into digital movies so distributors can determine where and when their movies may have been pirated.
Software
AccessIT’s Software Division supports all of the other Media Services divisions’ software products as well as its own industry standard Theatrical Distribution System (TDS), Global Theatrical Distribution System (TDS Global) and IndieDirect. Best known for TDS, which is used by the majority of Hollywood studios and independent distributors to schedule, track and conduct settlement accounting for all movies releases, the Division recently acquired PLX Systems to provide royalty and rights management solutions for digital content. This technology will enable the digital distribution and licensing of alternative content to movie theatres or downloaded to personal computers, cell phones and other portable devices. The Software Division also developed Digi-Central, an online marketplace, which enables digital content owners and exhibitors to seamlessly connect, book and deliver content into digitally equipped theatres. Digi-Central is expected to play a pivotal role in enhancing the worldwide distribution and availability of alternative content.
Unique Screen Media
AccessIT’s recently acquired UniqueScreen Media Division is one of the country’s leading in-theatre advertising companies. Unique’s exhibitor base and sales staff, under the leadership of Bob Martin, enable AccessIT to now bundle and cross-sell all of the combined companies’ products and services, integrating pre-show and feature show content into a comprehensive, turn-key program for exhibitors throughout the United States. AccessIT anticipates this program can drive the increased availability of other alternative content to theatres, well beyond pre-show and advertising, including such attractions as special events, concerts, faith-based programs, sporting events, children’s programming, etc.
Chuck Goldwater, newly appointed president of AccessIT’s Media Services Group, commented: “I am excited about my new role and the continued opportunity of working with a great team that will assure our future growth and success. We are proud of everything that has already been accomplished and look forward to continuing to earn the trust and confidence of our distribution and exhibition partners, both here in the U.S. and around the world.”