From January 2010, David Pope joins XDC, the n°1 digital cinema company in Europe, to lead the operations in United Kingdom and Ireland.

David Pope’s background is in audio and electronics, with an HND in electronics and control engineering from Cambridge College of Technology and the Association of Professional Recording Studios (APRS) diploma in sound engineering from the University of Surrey. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society as well as BKSTS, SMPTE and the IOD (Institute of Directors).

David spent the early part of his career with Neve Electronics and Sony Broadcast & Communications. In the late nineties David returned to Sony to develop a new business, Sony Cinema Products Europe, which first fired his enthusiasm for cinema surround sound. Building on his Cinema sound experience, he joined DTS Europe in 2001 as Director of Business Development for DTS’s new electronic subtitling system. David played a key role in the DWG (Disability Working Group) in establishing a subtitling and audio description service to UK cinemas.

David Pope, Director of Operations – UK & IE of XDC, said: “I’m proud to have been hired by XDC. It’s for me a challenge to initiate and develop the activities of XDC out of continental Europe. I will be responsible for the sales & business development activities for exhibition and distribution, as well as setting up the local activities linked to the first XDC VPF contracts.”

Fabrice Testa, Vice President Sales & Business Development of XDC, added: “I am very happy to get in my team an experienced person like David Pope. He knows very well the cinema industry, and particularly the digital cinema business. David will mainly focus on meeting UK exhibitors and distributors and explaining why the XDC’s VPF business proposal has been so successful so far in continental Europe, and why this is also an unique opportunity in UK. David will also support the business relationships that XDC has developed with Irish key players.”

Serge Plasch, CEO of XDC, concluded: “UK is one of the most advanced country in Europe with respect to digital cinema. XDC wants to take a significant market share on this territory, not only by providing to exhibition digital equipment transition though VPF scheme, but also by offering to distributors the XDC Content Lab services as well as our efficient innovative extranet solutions to third-party labs. Last but not least, XDC has a highly skilled English-speaking professional helpdesk and NOC able to support any digital server connected to XDC Network.”

David Pope - +44 754 509 30 30 – dpo@xdcinema.com

About XDC

XDC is the n°1 digital cinema company in Europe with more than 1.350 committed digital screens out of which 50% have already been deployed. XDC HQ is based in Liege (Belgium) and provides end-to-end digital cinema solutions including equipment supply, financing (VPF, leasing, etc.), training, installation and 24/7 maintenance, as well as content processing and delivery. The company is the first entity to have VPF digital cinema deployment agreements with all 6 major US studios Warner, Fox, Universal, Paramount, Sony and Disney for a total of 8,000 digital screens in 22 European countries. Besides its financing program with ING Lease, XDC has set up a global financing of 100 millions Euros with a bank consortium led by BNP Paribas Fortis to allow the VPF roll out of 2,000 digital screens for its European deployment program. XDC Digital Content Lab has been processing more than 600 different titles, and offers a full service including mastering, duplication, key management, 24/7 helpdesk, extranet tracking, physical/virtual delivery. Last but not least, XDC is also very active in Alternative Content by offering a full service from booking and promotion up to delivery, reporting and box office collection. For further information see www.xdcinema.com.