XDC Signs Digital Cinema Deployment Agreements with European Distributors

A digital cinema service company in Europe, XDC, has signed non-exclusive long-term agreements with two European distributors to the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) roll-out started in Austria and Portugal.
Polyfilm Verleih (Polyfilm) and Valentim de Carvalho Multimedia (VCM) will support XDC, acting as a Deploying Entity, in order to roll out and fund digital systems for theatrical presentations, respectively, in Austria and Portugal.
Under the terms of the agreements, Polyfilm and VCM have independently agreed to supply Austrian and Portuguese exhibitors with their feature films in digital form for projection on the VPF digital screens, as well as contribute to the financing of XDC's VPF DCI-compliant digital cinema projection systems.
Serge Plasch, XDC's CEO, said: "This is a very important milestone for XDC. It's the first time in Europe that a VPF Deploying Entity signs long-term agreements with independent distributors. Many others are already contributing by supplying their films in digital format and by paying VPF's and they should also sign long-term agreements very soon."
Hans Koing, from Polyfilm, commented: "We are satisfied that we got conditions which we were able to accept."
Luis Froes from VCM said: "This is a very important step to VCM. The future is digital and we want to be in there since the beginning."
Judith Michel, Content Service Sales Manager for XDC, said: "This result demonstrates that XDC's VPF-based model works. Independent distributors can achieve quite important savings with respect to the 35mm print costs, even by paying the VPF. Moreover, VPF has only to be paid during a limited period of time and for a limited number of digital screens."
(KMcA/BMcC)