China Film Digital Company signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), and Singapore-based MediaCorp Technologies Pte Ltd to develop a digital movie distribution model.

 

Under the MOI signed on Thursday, the two companies will, with the support of IDA, jointly develop a commercial digital distribution model to make Chinese digital content available to audiences in Singapore and other parts of Asia.

 

According to a press release issued by MediaCorp on Thursday, Chinese digital movies will be transmitted to Singapore via satellite, by leveraging on the Cross Continental Transmission Project (CCTx), where subtitles in different languages and trailers will be added on to the movies before they are distributed to various markets in Asia.

 

The CCTx, which was first used to transmit digital content from the US to Singapore successfully last June, establishes a secure, reliable and cost-effective channel for digital delivery, the press release said.

 

A Chinese digital movie entitled Sunrise, Sunset was sent from Beijing to Singapore using this method.

 

Apart from MediaCorp Technologies' asset management and distribution process, which will help reduce distribution cost, other reasons for choosing Singapore as a partner include its "excellent information communication infrastructure, strong IP (intellectual property) regime and digital media eco-system," according to Deputy General Manager of China Film Digital, Jiang Defu.

 

A subsidiary of the China Film Group, China Film Digital owns 180 digital cinema screens in China and has distributed 70 domestic and imported digital movies across the country since 2002.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2006)