Vodaphone Ups Ante In Fight For Germany’s Kabel Deutschland It looks like a battle is brewing for Germany’s largest cable group, Kabel Deutschland. Vodafone has raised its preliminary offer to about €7.5B ($10.1B), Bloomberg sources said. That’s €85 a share compared to the €80-€82 offer that was initially rejected by Kabel. But it’s equal to a preliminary offer made by John Malone’s Liberty Global. Financial Times, meanwhile, reports that Liberty is structuring its bid to offer assets as opposed to cash. Sources told the paper that Liberty, which recently acquired the UK’s Virgin Media for $23.3B, has proposed injecting its existing German cable assets and keeping Kabel’s public listing. This would help circumvent regulatory concerns about combining Germany’s two biggest cable companies. Liberty owns the No. 2 cable outfit, Unitymedia. However, an all-cash offer could have better chances of being approved, a source told Bloomberg.
- 6/19/2013
- by NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
- Deadline TV
Netflix will continue its international expansion, rolling out service in Spain in January 2012. The news that the company is eyeing a European market notorious for piracy comes via Screen Daily, which cites Pedro Perez, president of the local producers association Fapae. A spokesman for Netflix declined to comment. Netflix has been beefing up its global presence in recent months -- launching a streaming-only service in Canada last year, and setting up programs in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. Spain poses some thorny questions, however. As Screen Daily notes, the country...
- 8/17/2011
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.
Sorry, folks… there are simply too many great films streaming this week to post an image for them all, but that’s a good thing, eh? You’ve got your movie watching work cut out for you, due in great part to Miramax releasing damn near their entire catalog of films on one day!
B. Monkey (1999)
Streaming Available: 05/01/2011
Director: Michael Radford
Synopsis: Good-hearted schoolteacher Alan Furnace (Jared Harris) desperately wants some excitement in his life — and he may just get some. One lonely night at a London bar, Alan spies the raven-haired beauty Beatrice (Asia Argento) arguing with two friends, Paul (Rupert Everett) and Bruno (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers). Beatrice quickly befriends Alan and...
Sorry, folks… there are simply too many great films streaming this week to post an image for them all, but that’s a good thing, eh? You’ve got your movie watching work cut out for you, due in great part to Miramax releasing damn near their entire catalog of films on one day!
B. Monkey (1999)
Streaming Available: 05/01/2011
Director: Michael Radford
Synopsis: Good-hearted schoolteacher Alan Furnace (Jared Harris) desperately wants some excitement in his life — and he may just get some. One lonely night at a London bar, Alan spies the raven-haired beauty Beatrice (Asia Argento) arguing with two friends, Paul (Rupert Everett) and Bruno (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers). Beatrice quickly befriends Alan and...
- 4/29/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Madrid -- Spanish films earned more at the international boxoffice than at home in 2009, according to figures released Monday by Spain's Spanish Producers' Federation Fapae at the Madrid de Cine Spanish Film Screenings.
Spearheaded by animated feature "Planet 51," Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" and Steven Soderbergh's "Che, The Argentine" (which boasts a minority Spanish stake held by Telecinco Cinema and Morena Films), Spanish films earned €140.6 million ($175.7 million) in 18 countries from 75 distributed titles.
That compares to the €104.4 million ($130 million) collected from Spanish films released in Spain during the same time period. Spanish films accounted for 15.9% of domestic ticket sales in 2009.
"We sell our films better abroad than at home," Fapae President Pedro Perez said. "And we've seen tremendous growth in the U.S/Canadian market."
It is the first time official international sales figures have been presented to the industry. Fapae's figures come from data obtained from the European Audiovisual Observatory,...
Spearheaded by animated feature "Planet 51," Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" and Steven Soderbergh's "Che, The Argentine" (which boasts a minority Spanish stake held by Telecinco Cinema and Morena Films), Spanish films earned €140.6 million ($175.7 million) in 18 countries from 75 distributed titles.
That compares to the €104.4 million ($130 million) collected from Spanish films released in Spain during the same time period. Spanish films accounted for 15.9% of domestic ticket sales in 2009.
"We sell our films better abroad than at home," Fapae President Pedro Perez said. "And we've seen tremendous growth in the U.S/Canadian market."
It is the first time official international sales figures have been presented to the industry. Fapae's figures come from data obtained from the European Audiovisual Observatory,...
- 6/21/2010
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Madrid -- Rampant piracy in Spain cost the music, video and film industries some €5.1 billion ($6.28 billion) -- or triple the €1.6 billion ($1.97 billion) earned in sales by those industries -- in the second half of 2009, according to a study released this week.
Spain is responsible for an estimated 20% of worldwide downloads, securing it the dubious distinction of one of the top pirating havens in the world. But until now, the industry has been hard-pressed to quantify the losses.
The study, based on some 6,000 surveys, is to be conducted regularly from now on every six months.
According to Idc consulting firm's study "Observation of pirating and consumption habits of digital content" for Spain's Coalition of Cultural Creators and Industries, 95.6% of the digital music in Spain is downloaded illegally, while film registers some 83.7% illegal downloads and video games 52.3%.
Only 19.7% of the digital books downloaded in Spain in the second half of last year were done so illegally.
Spain is responsible for an estimated 20% of worldwide downloads, securing it the dubious distinction of one of the top pirating havens in the world. But until now, the industry has been hard-pressed to quantify the losses.
The study, based on some 6,000 surveys, is to be conducted regularly from now on every six months.
According to Idc consulting firm's study "Observation of pirating and consumption habits of digital content" for Spain's Coalition of Cultural Creators and Industries, 95.6% of the digital music in Spain is downloaded illegally, while film registers some 83.7% illegal downloads and video games 52.3%.
Only 19.7% of the digital books downloaded in Spain in the second half of last year were done so illegally.
- 6/1/2010
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
San Sebastian, Spain -- Spanish cult director Alex de la Iglesia will direct "Balada Triste de Trompeta," a tragic comedy co-produced by Spain's Tornosol and France's La Fabrique du Film.
The €8 million ($11.2 million), Spanish-language "grotesque tragedy" -- as De la Iglesia described it -- centers on two clowns in love with the same trapeze artist at a Spanish circus.
Set to shoot in Madrid and Alicante's Ciudad de la Luz studio in January, the film follows De la Iglesia's 2008 "The Oxford Murders," also produced by Tornosol and Fabrique du Film. The English-language "Murders" starred Elijah Wood and was Spain's highest-grossing homegrown hit at the domestic boxoffice last year with €8.2 million ($12 million).
Unlike "Murders," "Trompeta" is based on a De la Iglesia script, which promises the unique style and dark humor of the director-writer of such hits as "Day of the Beast," "The Commonwealth" and "Ferpect Crime."
Antonio de la Torre...
The €8 million ($11.2 million), Spanish-language "grotesque tragedy" -- as De la Iglesia described it -- centers on two clowns in love with the same trapeze artist at a Spanish circus.
Set to shoot in Madrid and Alicante's Ciudad de la Luz studio in January, the film follows De la Iglesia's 2008 "The Oxford Murders," also produced by Tornosol and Fabrique du Film. The English-language "Murders" starred Elijah Wood and was Spain's highest-grossing homegrown hit at the domestic boxoffice last year with €8.2 million ($12 million).
Unlike "Murders," "Trompeta" is based on a De la Iglesia script, which promises the unique style and dark humor of the director-writer of such hits as "Day of the Beast," "The Commonwealth" and "Ferpect Crime."
Antonio de la Torre...
- 9/24/2009
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Madrid -- Sometimes the picture tells the whole story. That seemed to be the case Tuesday as Spain's film industry showed its first demonstration of unity as it announced the "Fiesta de Cine" initiative to attract Spaniards back into movie theaters.
The initiative -- which organizers expect to become an annual event coinciding with the end of school in June -- aims to draw moviegoers back into theaters by offering any film on more than 2,860 screens countrywide for €2 a ticket ($2.77) from June 21-23.
But the image of traditionally opposing sectors and their accompanying top brass executives working together to present the initiative was dramatic, and a testament to how dire the industry deems the present plunge in ticket sales.
"I'd like to express deep satisfaction at seeing the representation of unity at this table," said Ignasi Guardans, the Culture Ministry's Film Institute chief. "It is historic and significant that all the sectors of the industry,...
The initiative -- which organizers expect to become an annual event coinciding with the end of school in June -- aims to draw moviegoers back into theaters by offering any film on more than 2,860 screens countrywide for €2 a ticket ($2.77) from June 21-23.
But the image of traditionally opposing sectors and their accompanying top brass executives working together to present the initiative was dramatic, and a testament to how dire the industry deems the present plunge in ticket sales.
"I'd like to express deep satisfaction at seeing the representation of unity at this table," said Ignasi Guardans, the Culture Ministry's Film Institute chief. "It is historic and significant that all the sectors of the industry,...
- 6/16/2009
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Madrid -- Flanked by top brass from Spain's Culture Ministry and Foreign Trade Institute, Pedro Perez, president of Spanish producers federation Fapae, presented the lineup for this year's Madrid de Cine Spanish Film Screenings on Thursday.
Set to run June 7-9, the fourth annual event will showcase more than 50 recent Spanish productions to 132 buyers from 31 countries, including 11 confirmed acquisition executives from the U.S.
"There is a strong recognition of Spanish cinema's quality in the international marketplace," the Fti's Angel Martin Acebes said.
Perez, who was joined by Enrique Cerezo, president of producers' rights management body Egeda, announced that this year's screenings will offer a prize to "the film with the greatest international impact," to be decided by Fapae's member associations.
Operating on a €560,000 ($779,000) budget -- slightly down from last year's €600,000 -- the screenings aim to provide a platform for international sales.
"Without an international market, as well as a domestic one,...
Set to run June 7-9, the fourth annual event will showcase more than 50 recent Spanish productions to 132 buyers from 31 countries, including 11 confirmed acquisition executives from the U.S.
"There is a strong recognition of Spanish cinema's quality in the international marketplace," the Fti's Angel Martin Acebes said.
Perez, who was joined by Enrique Cerezo, president of producers' rights management body Egeda, announced that this year's screenings will offer a prize to "the film with the greatest international impact," to be decided by Fapae's member associations.
Operating on a €560,000 ($779,000) budget -- slightly down from last year's €600,000 -- the screenings aim to provide a platform for international sales.
"Without an international market, as well as a domestic one,...
- 5/28/2009
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Madrid -- Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia will become president of the Spanish Film Academy on June 21 after the deadline to contest his appointment came and went Thursday.
De la Iglesia takes over from producer Eduardo Campoy, who briefly filled the vacancy left when Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde left her post to take over as Spain's culture minister in mid-April.
"I have seen that the vision outside of Spain of Spanish cinema is infinitely more positive than the one Spaniards have inside Spain," De la Iglesia said, pledging to work to bolster Spanish cinema's profile internationally and locally.
De la Iglesia's election marks the beginning of a new era in the Spanish industry, coming on the heels of Ignasi Guardans' appointment as head of Spain's Cinema and Audiovisual Arts Institute, the Culture Ministry's film and TV body.
The politically independent Guardans served as a member of the European Parliament committee on education and culture,...
De la Iglesia takes over from producer Eduardo Campoy, who briefly filled the vacancy left when Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde left her post to take over as Spain's culture minister in mid-April.
"I have seen that the vision outside of Spain of Spanish cinema is infinitely more positive than the one Spaniards have inside Spain," De la Iglesia said, pledging to work to bolster Spanish cinema's profile internationally and locally.
De la Iglesia's election marks the beginning of a new era in the Spanish industry, coming on the heels of Ignasi Guardans' appointment as head of Spain's Cinema and Audiovisual Arts Institute, the Culture Ministry's film and TV body.
The politically independent Guardans served as a member of the European Parliament committee on education and culture,...
- 5/28/2009
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Madrid -- The relationship between the Spanish film industry and the Socialist government here looked set to improve dramatically Tuesday as the president of the Spanish Film Academy was named the country's new culture minister.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero replaced Cesar Antonio Molina with writer-director Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde in a major government reshuffle that saw five new names appointed to the cabinet while other ministers switched ministries, as Zapatero looked to bolster his government a year after general elections.
Gonzalez-Sinde won a Goya award for best original screenplay in 1998 for Ricardo Franco's "La Buena Estrella" and another Goya for best new director for her 2003 directorial debut "Sleeping Luck."
Her appointment is the first time an industry insider has held the country's top culture post and the local film industry was celebrating Tuesday after the announcement.
"Fapae, in the name of all the Spanish audiovisual producers it represents,...
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero replaced Cesar Antonio Molina with writer-director Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde in a major government reshuffle that saw five new names appointed to the cabinet while other ministers switched ministries, as Zapatero looked to bolster his government a year after general elections.
Gonzalez-Sinde won a Goya award for best original screenplay in 1998 for Ricardo Franco's "La Buena Estrella" and another Goya for best new director for her 2003 directorial debut "Sleeping Luck."
Her appointment is the first time an industry insider has held the country's top culture post and the local film industry was celebrating Tuesday after the announcement.
"Fapae, in the name of all the Spanish audiovisual producers it represents,...
- 4/7/2009
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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