Cinemeccanica And Barco Take Leading Role In French Digital Cinema Roll-Out

Cinemeccanica and digital cinema pioneer Barco have announced a milestone contract with French exhibitor Cap Cinéma.
Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will install eighty 2K DLP digital projectors in Cap Cinéma theatres across France.
With more than 100 screens across the country, Cap Cinéma is one of the most renowned exhibitors in France.
A long-term customer of Barco's Value Added Partner Cinemeccanica, Cap Cinéma selected Barco's DP series of projectors for its digital conversion, powered by financing from Ymagis.
During the first deployment phase, running until September 2009, theatres in Blois, Saint-Quentin, Périgeux, Agen, Carcassonne, Montauban and Fribourg will be digitised. Rollout for other complexes will start in October 2009.
Philippe Dejust, General Manager, Cap Cinéma, said: "This digitisation is the continuation of our long term relationship with Cinemeccanica. We deliberately opted for the Cinemeccanica-Barco offering of digital projectors, powered by Texas Instruments' DLP technology.
"As we want to give our audience a memorable movie experience, the image quality and universal 3D compatibility of Barco's projectors were key elements in our choice."
Cinemeccanica and Barco are long term partners and signed a Value Added Partnership in 2007. Under the terms of this agreement, Cinemeccanica promotes and supports Barco digital cinema solutions across southern Europe.
Patrick Muller, General Director of Cinemeccanica, commented: "With this contract France is cementing its leading role in Europe's ongoing digital conversion.
"As a Value Added Partner, we are pleased to integrate Barco-powered projectors and continue our fruitful collaboration with Cap Cinéma. Barco's digital cinema projectors have a low cost of ownership, are easy to use and prove extremely reliable, exactly what out customers are looking for."
Tim Sinnaeve, Sales Director EMEA of Barco's digital cinema business, added: "We are pleased to take a leading role in the digital conversion of a country with such a rich cinema history and world famous film festivals. This project is the result of our great partnership with Cinemeccanica and will pave the way for more French cinemas to turn digital."
Jean Mizrahi, Managing Director of Ymagis, said: "This is a major financing deal in digital cinema. We have set up a business model to give cinema owners a smooth transfer to digital.
"I must admit we are very pleased to join forces with a worldwide digital cinema pioneer like Barco."
Barco's digital cinema projectors are based on the pioneering DLP Cinema technology from Texas Instruments, guaranteeing perfect reproduction of cinema content time and time again, ensuring moviegoers enjoy the highest quality film experience with consistent picture brightness, contrast and vibrant colours.
(KMcA/BMcC)