Cineplex, one of the large German cinema circuits, and the Belgian VPF service provider XDC agreed on the conditions of a digital roll-out of the 451 Cineplex screens. The German integrator FTT played an important role in the pre-negotiations and will also carry out a large part of the installations.

The agreement between Cineplex and XDC includes the roll out of DCI-compliant projection systems cofinanced by the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) model and using the financing solution proposed by XDC via the credit facility structured by BNP Paribas Fortis.

Kim Ludolf Koch, Managing Director of Cineplex Deutschland said: “After careful consideration and negotiations the 35 shareholders of Cineplex group, we decided to complete the digital deployment on a large scale and with the most experienced partner in VPF services in Germany. As an association of numerous familyrun businesses we are placing particularly high demands on our partner as far as flexibility is concerned. With XDC we were able to depict our various individual requirements and demands as precisely as possible“.

Serge Plasch, XDC’s CEO, said:"We are delighted that, with Cineplex group, we were also able to win the third major German cinema circuit and, consequently, could make an important step towards the digital roll-out in Germany. The fact that we could catch on with our business proposal against other VPF providers in this highly competitive preliminary decision once again underlines the quality of our model.“

Thomas Rüttgers, FTT’s Chairman of the Board of Management, added:“It was vital for our co-operation with XDC and Cineplex that we could do our bit acting as an intermediary in this issue. We think that this is a clear signal to the market that VPF models will become further established in Germany.”

Under the terms of the agreement with XDC, Cineplex will exclusively install Series 2 DCI-compliant digital projection systems. Cineplex will also implement a fully integrated and networked solution within the cinema circuit, thanks to XDC’s advanced Theatre Management System and Central Library, the XDC’s CineStore® Plaza. A content delivery network will also be implemented by XDC in order to allow distributors to deliver films directly by satellite and/or broadband connection to the cinemas, as well as to give the opportunity to Cineplex to perform live 2D and 3D transmissions.

All the systems will be connected to the XDC’s NOC (Network Operations Centre) which will perform the hotline support and the preventative remote maintenance. Thanks to the sophisticated XDC’s CineStore Data webbased application, the frontline support (with the possibility to have a full remote monitoring of the digital systems) will be directly managed by FTT, which will also take care of most of the installations and maintenance.

About XDC International

XDC is the n°1 digital cinema company in Europe wit h 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-toend 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 million Euro 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.

The main shareholders are EVS Broadcast Equipment (www.evs-global.com) (Euronext Brussels: EVS, Bloomberg: EVS BB, Reuters: EVSB.BR), GIMV (www.gimv.com) (Euronext Brussels: GIMB, Bloomberg: GIMB BB, Reuters: GIMV.BR) and SRIW (www.sriw.be).

More info available at www.xdcinema.com.

XDC Marketing & Communication Department - Tel.: +32 4 364 12 00 - Email: marcom@xdcinema.com

About Cineplex

Cineplex group is an association of independent medium-sized cinemas that decided to act jointly in important business segments in the middle of the nineteen-nineties. With around 450 screens in over 80 cinemas and 60 cities in which just under 20 million visitors are entertained each year, Cineplex group ranges among the largest players in the German cinema market. Cineplex combines the advantages of regionally established family-run companies with those of a large group. The lean head office in Wuppertal pools the demand of its shareholders, e.g. as far as purchasing, marketing, technology, cooperation management, representing of interests, are concerned.

More info available at www.Cineplex.de

Board of Management Cineplex Deutschland: Phone: +49-202-51570100, Email: Cineplex-Deutschland@Cineplex.de

About Film Ton Technik (FTT)

FILM-TON-TECHNIK Hannsdieter Rüttgers GmbH (FTT) is based in Düsseldorf. As a cinema service provider with 50 years of experience FTT has already implemented a large number of projects for multiplexes and independent cinemas in Germany and abroad and has got subsidiaries in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands. Apart from project planning as well as selling and installing traditional 35mm technology FTT has been active in the field of digital cinema and electronic advertising for more than 7 years and established itself as a system integrator.

For further information see www.ftt-online.de

FTT Marketing & Communication Department - Phone: +49 (0) 211 - 30 20 51 – 0 -Email: office@ftt-online.de