In Demand L.L.C. said Tuesday that it signed a new pay-per-view
distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar
International Television that, for the first time, includes video-on-demand
rights.
The agreement, effective Sept. 1, adds movies to In Demand's VOD offerings,
which are now available to about 500,000 cable customers, largely on Time Warner
Cable and Cox Communications Inc. systems.
September PPV titles from Sony include The Wedding Planner, with
Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, and Pollock, with Ed Harris and Marcia
Gay Harden, according to In Demand's Web
site
.
The news came just 12 days after Sony and four other studios -- Metro-Goldwyn
Mayer Inc., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. -- announced
that they had formed a venture to create an Internet-based VOD service.
Analysts also expect The Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox to
declare that they have Internet-based VOD services in mind.
In Demand's last VOD-output deal before this one was
with Universal, in July. In June, the PPV programmer signed a VOD deal with
Artisan Entertainment.
