Dubai: Front Row Filmed Entertainment, the regional film distribution house, will take on a central role in offering regional and Bollywood content via iTunes to video-on-demand (VoD) subscribers, both within the region and outside.
“With 109 iTunes Movie Stores globally, this is an exciting opportunity for Arab cinema and emerging local talent, not only across the region, but also worldwide,” stated Hisham Al Ganem, General Manager of Kuwait National Cinema Company (KNCC) and partner in Front Row. (Front Row and KNCC acquire between 90 to 120 titles a year and account for nearly 70 per cent of Arabic language produced titles for the region).
iTunes offers simultaneous releases in eight regional markets, which includes all of the Gulf, except Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
“With free television not acquiring independent titles, the DVD market dying and pay-TV being extremely selective, I’m sure that local film distributors will finally find common grounds and encourage the VoD medium even more,” stated Gianluca Chakra, Managing Partner at Front Row. “We’re sure iTunes will become the place to turn to when looking for a movie.”
Front Row has already launched a few of their own distributed titles and is looking to launch more. Film viewers can now rent or purchase titles through the ‘Electronic Sell Through’ feature, including titles such as the recently released ‘A Long Way Down’, ‘Rush’ and ‘Diana’.
It had introduced the ‘Premium VOD Window’ with titles such as George Clooney’s ‘The Ides of March’.
