HONG KONG -- Celestial Pictures, the Hong Kong-based film library and TV channels group, has struck a three-year deal that will allow its movies to screen legally in China's booming Internet cafés.
Company has pacted with Beijing Netmovie, which operates VV8.com, a pay-movie website and front end for variously branded subscription services used by 30,000 web cafes.
Netmovie pays a flat fee for mainland China Internet, IPTV and rights to 662 movies from the Celestial-owned Shaw Brothers library and some 170 hours of Celestial-made TV drama.
Cafe users who subscribe to the services will have access to batches of films, which will be rotated on a regular basis. Netmovie typically charges each café yuan 5,000 ($740) per year to use its content.
"Netmovie insists on a strategy of authorized (content) and now is becoming the digital entertainment service provider that owns the most movie resources and channel resources in China," Netmovie co-CEO Shao Yuanyuan said.
It emerged last week that the company is being sued for $14.8 million damages by Guangdong-based video and audio publishing company Zoke Culture.
Zoke claims that it has found 350 Internet cafes supplied by Netmovie showing unauthorized Zoke content including John Woo's hit movie "Red Cliff."
Titles covered by the Celestial-Netmovie deal include "The Kingdom and the Beauty," "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin," "Love and a Fallen City" and "Love on Delivery." TV dramas include "Empress Feng of the Northern Wei Dynasty" and "Survival."
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