CINE.L Regulatory News (CINE)

6 Mar 2008 07:01

Cineworld Group plc06 March 2008 6 March 2008 Cineworld Group plc Announcement of formation of advertising joint venture Cineworld Group plc ("Cineworld") announces today that, in association withOdeon Cinemas Limited ("Odeon"), it has formed a 50:50 joint venture, DigitalCinema Media ("DCM") to address cinema advertising. DCM has reached agreement inprinciple to acquire certain assets from Carlton Screen Advertising Limited("CSA"), a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. The agreement in principle willbe the subject of a definitive asset purchase agreement (the "Agreement") andwill be subject to a competition approval process. This follows the announcement of 11 December 2007 when Cineworld announced thatit had been approached by CSA with a proposal materially to amend the terms ofthe existing screen advertising contract (the "Contract"). As part of theAgreement the Contract will be terminated. Cineworld has received full paymentfrom CSA in respect of January and February screen advertising and paymentsthrough to execution of the Agreement will be made on an agreed revenue sharebasis. The consideration payable by DCM for the assets in connection with the Agreementis £500,000 in cash. Steve Wiener, Cineworld CEO, commented: "I am delighted we have reached a mutually acceptable conclusion to negotiationswith CSA and ITV. "DCM plans to develop a more flexible, targeted and timely service foradvertisers and local businesses, who hitherto have not been able to make fulluse of advertising across the cinema sector. I believe this will not only beattractive to us but also for other cinema exhibitors that wish to takeadvantage of DCM's advanced service offering. "With the growth potential of digital advertising we believe the prospects forDCM are highly attractive." -Ends- Contact: M:Communications Nick Miles 020 7153 1530Georgina Briscoe 020 7153 1548Charlotte Winder 020 7153 1565 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange