MUMBAI: The Star Group has secured a new exclusive multi-year, multi-territory pay television output deal with Hong Kong's China Star Entertainment Group for its Star Chinese Movies channel.
Star COO Steve Askew and China Star chairman Charles Heung signed the multi-million dollar agreement, which expands the existing output deal between the two companies. The new deal gives Star Chinese Movies exclusive pay television broadcast, video-on-demand and pay-per-view rights to Mandarin and Cantonese films produced by China Star in the next five years across Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the Philippines and Singapore.
"Our firm alliance with China Star is one of the reasons Star Chinese Movies has held such a dominant position in the Chinese blockbuster market. Today's announcement, along with our recent partnership with now Broadband TV, showcases our commitment to providing our viewers with the best television has to offer," said Askew.
"Our commitment to producing high-quality movies and ensuring maximum exposure for our productions have found a home in this agreement with Star. Star Chinese Movies has been an effective platform to extend our audience beyond the silver screen, and we’re delighted to be working hand-in-hand with Star again," said Heung.
Reinforced by existing output agreements with Hong Kong's leading studios including Emperor Motion Pictures, JCE Movies, Universe and Focus Films, and now China Star, Star Chinese Movies has secured more rights to current and upcoming Chinese titles than any other movie channel in the world.
The agreement signing was attended by international superstar Jet Li, whose kung-fu skills will be on display in Star Chinese Movies' September Spotlight in a special movie package of his digitally re-mastered classics. Also present were award winners Cecilia Cheung and Tony Leung Ka-Fai, as well as Lau Ching-Wan, Jordan Chan, Cherrie In, Raymond Wong, Andy On and Elaine Jin.
Some of the China Star films currently in pre-production include -- A new Johnnie To project, My Girl Is A Kung Fu Master, Shopaholics, The Perfect Deception, Liao Zhai, Karmic Mahjong, The Come Back and The Hanky-Panky Cop.
Star Chinese Movies is currently available in Hong Kong on now Broadband TV, in Singapore on StarHub Digital Cable, as well as in Taiwan and the Philippines. Current and upcoming China Star movies to exclusively premiere on the channel include Election, Kung Fu Mahjong, The White Dragon and Himalaya Singh.
