Newsplayer Group PLC
9 October 2000
NEWSPLAYER GROUP PLC
SIGNING OF SUBSTANTIAL ARCHIVES ON AN EXCLUSIVE BASIS
Newsplayer Group PLC ('Newsplayer' or the 'Company'), a
new media company, which has established an innovative
video-on-demand product providing television and cinema
newsreel footage which spans the 20th century, announces
the signing of two exclusive archive deals; the Alison
Mercer Collection and Stock Video of Boston (material
from Columbia Sports News and Castlefilms).
The two deals represent a catalogue of material, much of
which, has not been seen since its original screening.
The exclusive deals total over 1,000 hours of footage
spanning the last century.
Newsplayer has secured the rights to material from the
Alison Mercer Collection, consisting of 1,400 video clips
encoded at four different bandwidths and representing 280
hours of material on a 20 year exclusive Internet deal
basis. Part of the archive comprises film-related
material and biographies on icons of the cinema age.
Included are 600 film trailers dating back to the 1930s,
sourced from the largest film trailer archive in the UK,
and featuring Kurt Douglas, Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn
Monroe. Interviews with notable directors such as Alfred
Hitchcock and screen tests with actors such as Audrey
Hepburn are also included in the archive. The remaining
material features US sporting footage dating from the
1920s.
The Stock Video of Boston deal represents a further 800
hours of historical US-based encoded clips on a ten year
exclusive licence on the Internet. The archive has been
sourced from a selection of private collections and is of
a sporting nature featuring Boxing, Golf, American
football and Baseball.
Newsplayer has managed to secure both archives for a
total of £110,000, a fraction of their material worth,
which is usually set at £5,000 for an hour of material.
The material will be utilised in the B2B, B2C and B2E
('Business to Education') marketplaces.
The combined total of 1080 hours of footage from these
two contracts will substantially add to, and complement,
Newsplayer's existing 900 hours of newsreel footage and
allow Newsplayer to develop a boutique' of themed
broadcast services on the Internet, particularly focusing
on its US offering.
Paul Duffen, Chief Executive of Newsplayer, commented:
'The deals constitute high-production historic footage
with a material value of over £5 million which will
substantially add to our existing archive of newsreel
footage. The archives, accessible only through
Newsplayer, will compound our innovative product.'
For further information contact:
Newsplayer Group PLC
Paul Duffen / Barry Llewellyn,
Tel: 020 7665 1812
Buchanan Communications
Tim Thompson / Catherine Miles,
Tel: 020 7466 5000
Notes to Editors
Newsplayer Group PLC floated on the Alternative
Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange ('AIM') in
May 2000.
Newsplayer users can browse the Newsplayer database which
contains video material from 1896 to the present day and
can stream any of the 14,000 video clips on request.
Newsplayer's agreement with ITN gives it access to ITN's
output on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, together with the
entire Reuters television archive and Paramount, Gaumont,
British Empire News, Visnews and French Pathi newsreels
(the 'ITN Archive').
Newplayer has strategic alliances with major media and
technology partners including Microsoft, Yahoo! Europe
and Hollinger International Inc.
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