(AP)

A new digital film delivery system offers theatre operators the flexibility to put a popular movie on an extra screen as quickly as the demand arises.At the same time, theatre operators could stop showing a surprisingly unpopular film and even book an art-house film with a small but devoted audience for a day or two.

Three companies are working on the system in the United States."Our goal really is to have the easiest, fastest, most reliable, most cost-effective content delivery technique possible to the theatres we represent," said Travis Reid, Chief Executive of Digital Cinema Implementation Partners, which is working with Warner Bros Entertainment and Universal Pictures.The process, still in the early stages of development, would use satellite and broadband delivery systems to beam digital films directly to theatres, rather than have them copied onto hard drives and delivered by hand, as they usually are now, said Darcy Antonellis, Warner Bros' executive vice president.That kind of rapid delivery, Reid said, would allow theatre operators more flexibility."We believe that if we can make that a very efficient process, very fast, they'll be able to respond to audience demands more," he said.

Beaming an encrypted version of a digital film directly to the theatre should also cut down on film piracy and bootlegging by eliminating the number of opportunities for people to get their hands on the movie as it is in transit, Antonellis said.DCIP is owned equally by the Regal, AMC and Cinemark theatre chains, which have 14,000 screens in North America. The new system would be available to those and other interested theatre operators, Reid and Antonellis said.

About 2,200 US theatre screens currently show digital films.Officials with the venture would not offer a date by which they hope to have the system in place and would not give a cost estimate."I think the latter part of this year we'll likely be doing some testing," said Antonellis."Our hope is as things progress and ... as the projectors roll out there will be a lot more activity."

(06/03/2007 02:59:18 PM)