ProSiebenSat.1 Group extends multi-year deal with The Walt Disney Company
Munich, April 7, 2008. In a multi-year agreement, the ProSiebenSat.1 Group has licensed the German Free TV rights for future TV entertainment from Disney-ABC International Television. This output deal with one of Hollywoods most successful entertainment companies includes a wide selection of hit Disney content, including feature films, network series, and Disney Channel Original Movies.
Through its ongoing relationship with Disney-ABC International Television, ProSiebenSat.1 channels will broadcast the German Free TV premieres of movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, the epic third installment of the blockbuster movie franchise, and comedy-adventure Wild Hogs, with John Travolta and Tim Allen. The new agreement also includes upcoming kids and family content, such as the Disney Channel Original Movies Camp Rock, starring Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato ("As the Bell Rings"), and The Cheetah Girls: One World. Also featured in the output agreement are new seasons of ABC Studios series, including Private Practice, from Shonda Rhimes, Golden Globe winning creator of "Grey's Anatomy, and also the new drama series Dirty Sexy Money, starring Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland.
The companies have also closed their first deal for Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVoD) movies for ProSiebenSat.1s video online store maxdome, licensing library titles such as Toy Story 2, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, the first of its kind in Germany as well as a Transactional VoD agreement for smash hit current and library titles including Ratatouille and Enchanted, and new seasons of ABC Studios series as Lost, Desperate Housewives and Greys Anatomy. These agreements build on the companies existing successful SVOD partnership for these series.
Said Guillaume de Posch, CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG: Were delighted to continue our long-lasting and successful partnership with Disney. The extension of our contract will make sure that our Group continues to offer the best movies and series on German Free TV and also as Video on Demand.
Said Tom Toumazis, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Disney-ABC International Television EMEA & Canada: Were thrilled to continue our great relationship with ProSiebenSat.1 a partnership which has brought the best in Disney entertainment to viewers in Germany. This agreement will offer a broad new selection of content to suit all age groups and tastes, which audiences are sure to love.
ProSiebenSat.1 Group and Disney-ABC International Television have been collaborating successfully since 2002. Disney productions such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, National Treasure and ABC Studios TV series such as Desperate Housewives, Criminal Minds and Greys Anatomy have scored excellent ratings on ProSiebenSat.1 stations.
The ProSiebenSat.1 Group has long-term contracts with almost every major Hollywood studio and many other production companies and distributors including Sony Pictures Television International, Paramount Pictures Global, Warner Bros. International Television Distribution Inc., MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Lucasfilm LTD, Dreamworks SKG, Constantin Film Verleih, Tobis Film, Kinowelt and Telepool.
About ProSiebenSat.1
With 26 free TV stations, 24 pay TV channels and 22 radio networks in 13 European countries, the ProSiebenSat.1 Group is one of the largest and most successful pan-European media corporations. Free TV, financed through advertising, is the Groups core business. Its station brands Sat.1, ProSieben, kabel eins and N24 make it the largest commercial free TV corporation in Germany. In the Netherlands the Group owns TV stations Veronica, Net 5 and SBS 6, in Belgium VT 4 and Vijf TV, in Sweden Kanal 5 and Kanal 9, in Norway TVNorge and FEM, in Denmark Kanal 4, Kanal 5 and SBS Net, in Hungary TV2, in Romania Prima TV and Kiss TV, in Austria Puls 4. Additionally, with 9Live, the Group owns the leading provider of call TV. maxdome, Germanys largest video-on-demand platform, and interests in innovative Internet services like MyVideo and lokalisten are among the activities with which the Group has increasingly been diversifying its sources of revenue. ProSiebenSat.1 Group has some 6,000 employees across Europe. The Company, which is listed in the MDAX, is headquartered in the Munich.
About Disney-ABC International Television
Disney-ABC International Television is the international television distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. It licenses over 30,000 hours of programming to over 1300 broadcasters across 240 territories worldwide. Disney-ABC International Television distributes a portfolio of motion pictures from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films, network TV series, TV movies and miniseries, Disney-branded kids programming, ABC Daytime and ABC News programming as well as the Annual Academy Awards®. The company also services the distribution of the Jetix Europe portfolio internationally. Disney-ABC International Television has been expanding its business portfolio to distribute U.S.-produced reality programs and exploits reality and scripted formats for local production; including local editions of Extreme Makeover in the UK, India, Belgium, Scandinavia and Hungary and Colombia, The Amazing Race in Central Europe and Asia, and local versions of 'Home Improvement' and 'Hope & Faith' in Russia and Turkey respectively.