Lionsgate, Starz Entertainment Strike Multi-Year Film Licensing Deal

NEW YORK - Lionsgate and Starz Entertainment on Thursday announced a multi-year film licensing deal that will bring more than 500 Lionsgate movies to Starz's premium channels and services.
 
The  agreement is Lionsgate's first long-term library deal with Starz and covers such films as The Expendables, The Last Exorcism, Conan The Barbarian, Abduction, Margin Call, Red State, Precious, Rambo, Alpha & Omega, From Paris with Love and 3:10 To Yuma.
 
Many movies from Tyler Perry, as well as films from the Saw franchise are also included along with Crash, Monster’s Ball, The Blair Witch Project, Reservoir Dogs and Dirty Dancing.

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Financial terms weren't disclosed. The films will be available in a window following their availability on Epix, the premium TV service joint venture of Lionsgate, MGM and Viacom.
 
"This is another significant step in the ongoing monetization of our 13,000-title filmed entertainment library,” said Jim Packer, Lionsgate's president of worldwide television and digital distribution.

The movie licensing agreement is also another example of Lionsgate's cradle-to-grave strategy for product exploitation, where the mini-major squeezes profits from its movie and TV product on all available traditional and digital platforms.

Even as Lionsgate fought a pitch battle with Carl Icahn over whether library valuations were falling, Lionsgate insisted it could boost its library and value creation strategy across multiple platforms, not least to offset the impact of the DVD slump.

Stephan Shelanski, executive vp of programming for Starz Entertainment said the Lionsgate supply deal helped meet the goal of offering subscribers original programming and theatrical films. 

"This agreement, with a terrific partner in Lionsgate, helps us meet those long term programming goals," he said.