FilmOn TV Networks CEO Alki David announced the acquisition of CinemaNow, one of the pioneers in providing transactional digital storefronts of premium film and TV content from Regent Equity Partners.
CinemaNow will continue operations as a provider of Transactional Video on Demand new release premium movies and television episodes to buy, rent and view from major licensors including 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal, Lionsgate, eOne, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and The Walt Disney Company.
David has appointed Donna Smith as president of CinemaNow. FilmOn’s Chief Content Officer Kim Hurwitz will integrate FilmOn content on CinemaNow.
CinemaNow was founded in 1999 by a group that initially included Cisco and Microsoft and was a pioneer in the field of what is now the $2 billion TVOD business. It offers over 55,000 premium movies and television episodes with approximately 150 new items added each week. It is available on Roku, Play Station, Xbox, Apple iOS, Samsung and many others.
FilmOn has launched FilmOn Premium and is the first OTT content delivery platform to offer licensed Hollywood movies and TV in the first Digital Tier window available from studios and networks. This expands the reach of CinemaNow’s content to FilmOn.com’s 70 million monthly users around the globe.
“We are very excited about the addition of CinemaNow,” said FilmOn TV Networks CEO Alki David. “Our goal has always been to advance legal access to great content for the benefit of the consumer. Now we’re working with all the major studios and broadcasters to build the future of entertainment together.”
CinemaNow will distribute the exclusive content FilmOn owns, including FilmOn TV Network’s original programming, and its libraries which include timeless movies by directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, and Federico Fellini, and content from the early days of television that has never been digitised before such as rare footage of the Beatles and John F. Kennedy.
CinemaNow will also distribute the content created by Alki David’s Hologram USA which already partners with all the major studios and broadcasters. Shows created around the Whitney Houston, Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline and Andy Kaufmann holograms will be available via filmon.com and CinemaNow, with Virtual reality and Live 360 options bringing these futuristic events to life inside the home.
Additionally, CinemaNow will benefit from FilmOn’s partnership with Lenovo—the world’s largest maker of PC’s. FilmOn apps are pre-loaded on every desktop computer, ThinkPad tablet, smart phone and smart TV the electronic giant makes. FilmOn will continue to white label CinemaNow and expand the reach of premium studio content, through the FilmOn network of over 10,000 affiliates including Blackberry, Intel and iHeartMedia.
“This is the first of many substantial acquisitions FilmOn TV Networks will make in 2016,” said Alki David. “Movie libraries, VR patents, original content: more game changing moves changing the entertainment business.”
