Starz Ent. will continue to offer cable subscribers access to first-run films from The Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures well into the next decade. The contract extensions with Disney-ABC Domestic Television and Sony Pictures Television are part of a series of deals just struck with five major studios. Library acquisitions from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, MGM Worldwide Television Group and Universal Pictures will provide Starz with rights to approximately 1,200 top movie titles and television series. The content will be offered on multiple distribution platforms, including Starz’s 16 linear channels, Starz On Demand, Starz Play and broadband video download service Vongo.
The Disney agreement will provide Starz with theatrically-released animated and live-action films through 2012, and the Sony Pictures Television deal provides movies through 2015. Disney titles will include Enchanted and National Treasure: Book of Secrets, while Sony contributes the upcoming Will Smith superhero flick Hancock, Angels and Demons starring Tom Hanks, and Adam Sandler’s Don’t Mess With Zohan, among others.
Under the terms of the library agreements, Starz will have access to a plethora of modern classics, including Warner Bros.’ Batman and Superman franchises; MGM’s Robocop and Pink Panther series; and Universal’s The Crow and select films in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, among others.
