NATO?s Cinema Buying Group, Numbering 8,700+ Screens, Enters FInal Phase in Selection of Digital Cinema Provider

Source NATO

http://www.natoonline.org/pdfs/CBG%20Press%20Release%20Nov%202007%20RFP%20Phase%202.pdf

 

November 16, 2007

Washington, D.C. . The Cinema Buying Group (CBG), representing over 8,700 screens in the United States and Canada, today announced the narrowing of the field to four qualified digital cinema system integrators—AccessIT, Digiserv, Kodak and Technicolor. The CBG now enters the final phase of its Request for Proposals process, during which it intends to obtain sufficient cost and other information to make a final decision.

 

“For small theater owners across North America, this process means surviving the digital cinema revolution, and that means not losing access to the big screen in many communities,” said CBG Managing Director J. Wayne Anderson. “We’re pleased with the quality of the submissions so far, and we hope to move this final selection phase quickly,” Anderson said.

 

The CBG is a program of the National Association of Theatre Owners, the trade association representing exhibitors in all 50 states and over 40 countries. The CBG was an independent corporate entity until October 2006, when the members voted to dissolve the entity and fold the program into NATO. NATO’s board of directors had approved that measure at their annual

board meeting in September 2006. The CBG was a largely inactive buying program for small- to medium-sized cinemas, which was retooled in 2006 to become independent movie theaters’ vehicle for digital cinema equipment and service.

 

The CBG’s Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in August 2007, and can be accessed at both the NATO and CBG websites (www.natoonline.org and www.cbgpurchasing.com).

 

“We have asked distributors to execute CBG-specific VPF agreements with the remaining four  vendors as expeditiously as possible so that these vendors can crunch their numbers and respond with their final and best offer to CBG members,” said Kendrick Macdowell, NATO Vice President and General Counsel, and counsel to CBG.

 

The National Association of Theatre Owners is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world, representing

movie theatres in all 50 states, Canada, and in more than 40 other countries worldwide.  NATO is headquartered in

Washington, D.C., with a second office in North Hollywood, California. The Cinema Buying Group is a semi-

autonomous NATO program for independent theater owners.

 

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For More Information, Please Contact:

Kendrick Macdowell

Vice President and General Counsel

National Association of Theatre Owners

Washington, D.C.

(202) 962-0054