Barco starts digital cinema roll-out in Central Europe with Palace Cinemas

http://www.barco.com/digitalcinema/pressrelease/2542/

 

Kortrijk, Belgium, 17 June 2010. Barco, a global leader in digital cinema technology, is proud to announce that it has been selected for a complete digital cinema deployment by XDC, a leading digital cinema service company in Europe, and Palace Cinemas, the leading exhibitor in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary following. Following a successful demo, Palace Cinemas has chosen to install Barco's DP2K series in both XDC screens and new sites to be opened over the next two years.

 

Palace Cinemas (Central Europe) currently operates 21 sites with 180 screens. After a very successful test last year, Palace Cinemas decided to exclusively install Barco's digital cinema projectors for their transfer to digital. The projectors are being installed in all Palace Cinemas' existing and upcoming multiplexes. The DP2K-C series is a line of compact digital cinema projectors, based on Texas Instruments' 0.98” DLP Cinema® chip, developed for small and mid-size theaters with screens ranging from 12 to 20 meters. 

Serge Plasch, Chief Executive Officer XDC, says: “Palace Cinemas is the most dynamic exhibitor in Central Europe, and we are excited to be able to deliver Barco's DP2K projectors for their sites. The new series offers one of the brightest and most cost-effective projection solutions available on the market today.” 

V.J. Maury, Chief Executive Officer of Palace Cinemas, states: “At Palace Cinemas, we are dedicated to creating the very best entertainment destination so that our customers can have a great night out at the movies. We decided on Barco after a very successful test with 12 projectors. We were looking for extremely bright digital cinema projectors – especially for the upcoming 3D releases. During the test period, we learned that they can meet all our technological requirements, and the DP2K series is even better.” 

“The digital cinema market in Central Europe is growing rapidly and Barco is pleased to be part of it,” comments Wim Buyens, Vice President of Barco's digital cinema division. “Palace Cinemas is just one of the ongoing installations in this region, and we are confident many more will follow.” 

Supporting 2D and 3D projection, Barco's six new DP2K projectors represent, by far, the most complete projector family available today. In addition to advances in software, diagnostics and patented cooling technology, all DP2K projectors include enhanced security features as mandated by the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI). All of Barco's digital cinema projectors are based on the pioneering DLP Cinema® technology from Texas Instruments, guaranteeing perfect reproduction of film, time and time again, and ensuring that movie-goers enjoy the highest quality film experience with consistent picture brightness, contrast and vibrant colors. 

About XDC International 
XDC is the n°1 digital cinema company in Europe with more than 1,500 committed digital screens out of which 50% have already been deployed. XDC HQ is based in Liege (Belgium) and provides end-to-end digital cinema solutions including equipment supply, financing (VPF, leasing, …), training, installation and 24/7 maintenance, as well as content processing and delivery. The company is the first entity to have VPF digital cinema deployment agreements with all 6 major US studios Warner, Fox, Universal, Paramount, Sony and Disney for a total of 8,000 digital screens in 22 European countries. Besides its financing program with ING Lease, XDC has set up a global financing of 100 millions Euros with a bank consortium led by BNP Paribas Fortis to allow the VPF roll out of 2,000 digital screens for its European deployment program. XDC Digital Content Lab has been processing more than 600 different titles, and offers a full service including mastering, duplication, key management, 24/7 helpdesk, extranet tracking, physical/virtual delivery. Last but not least, XDC is also very active in Alternative Content by offering a full service from booking and promotion up to delivery, reporting and box office collection. 
The main shareholders are EVS Broadcast Equipment (Euronext Brussels: EVS, Bloomberg: EVS BB, Reuters: EVSB.BR) (www.evs-global.com), GIMV (Euronext Brussels: GIMB, Bloomberg: GIMB BB, Reuters: GIMV.BR) (www.gimv.com) and SRIW (www.sriw.be). 
More info available at www.xdcinema.com. 
XDC Marketing & Communication Department - Tel.: +32 4 364 12 00 - Email: marcom@xdcinema.com 

About Palace Cinemas 
Palace Cinemas Central Europe is the leading cinema company in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary with 21 sites and 180 screens and plans for further expansion. Palace Cinemas includes Palacemedia for cinema ad sales and Palace Pictures for distribution. The company consistently leads the market in new technologies, including digital projectors, 3D, e-tickets, full web services, and its own management software End 2 End (E2E). Palace Cinemas is committed to People, Entertainment and Fun. 

Palace Cinemas was founded in 1999 by Arthur Goldblatt and V.J. Maury. Its majority shareholder is ARGUS Capital Group Limited (“ARGUS”), a private equity fund manager focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. ARGUS was established in 1998 and is supported by leading institutional investors from Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Japan. With total commitments of approximatelyEuro400 million in its two funds, ARGUS has invested in thirteen companies in the CEE region over the past ten years. 

For additional information on Palace Cinemas, see www.palacecinemas.net or contact vjmaury@palacecinemas.net. 

About Barco 
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco (NYSE/Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3,300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 638 million euro in 2009.