XDC Announce The Validation Of The 1000th Digital Screen

Digital cinema service company XDC has announced the deployment of the 1000th digital screen contracted within its European VPF studio agreements.
The 1000th digital installation is the Rio Cinema in Dalston, London, UK, a member of the DFP (Digital Funding Partnership). This marks the first installation under the DFP/XDC deployment agreement.
Serge Plasch, XDC CEO, said: "We are very excited to have reached this important step and especially with the Rio Cinema being a member of the DFP which we are very proud to be working with, it's a double celebration!"
Christian De Stoop, XDC's International Sales and Contracting Manager, added: "1000 screens is an important milestone for XDC. Over the last two years our installation base has seen considerable growth. We now have screens in almost every country of Europe. We are truly a European company. XDC has further established its leadership position with this milestone and the trend continues. We are currently experiencing our busiest time with exhibitors signing to the VPF model."
Charles Rubinstein, General Manager of The Rio Cinema, said: "We are impressed with the speed that XDC supplied and installed the system through Sound Associates. We had a deadline of May 1 and fortunately the DFP and XDC were able to arrange our installation to meet this. We are all highly delighted and relieved!"
Steve Perrin, CEO DFP, added: "Congratulation to XDC on their 1000th installation! I am especially pleased that it is the Rio cinema that achieved this milestone for XDC. It really emphasises what the DFP is all about when we can help our traditional independently owned cinemas like this. We are all looking forward to the main phase of our roll-out in the very near future."
XDC European VPF deployments commenced in September 2008. The first to undergo conversion from 35mm to digital in Europe with XDC were Austria, Portugal and Belgium. The arrival of 3D blockbusters accelerated a second wave of deployments that brought many cinemas from Germany and the UK into the digital era.
Almost 30% of the digital screens installed are 3D. In Europe, our largest territorial screen base is still located in Portugal and Austria with almost 250 installed screens each, followed by Belgium and Germany. This situation will certainly change in the future, as XDC has signed contracts for almost 2000 more screens to digitalise. Moreover, XDC's goal is to achieve 8000 digital screens in Europe and remain the European leader, with 35-40% of the market.
All the systems delivered and installed in these 1000 cinema booths are connected to the XDC's NOC (Network Operations Centre) which provides hotline support and preventative remote maintenance. The NOC has prepared for an anticipated 3000 screens over the next year by increasing its workforce which was increased from 5 to 15 in the last two months, and indeed continues to grow.
(KMcA)