Celestial Pictures and Sony Pictures Television ink licensing deal to bring Kung Fu action to African pay TV viewers
26 July 2011, Hong Kong–For the first time in the continent’s television history, African pay TV subscribers will get to watch legendary Shaw Brother’s Kung Fu movies from the comfort of their homes. Celestial Pictures, the Chinese filmed content company and operator of regional pay-TV channels, announced today that it has sealed its first licensing deal with Sony Max, Sony Pictures Television’s 24-hour action and reality channel in Africa.
The deal gives exclusive cable and satellite broadcast rights to Sony Max for a package of titles from Celestial’s Shaw Brothers Film Library. Included in the package are iconic titles such as The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The Chinese Boxer, Mad Monkey Kung Fu, ShaolinTemple, Vengeance and many more.
Sony Max, which launched in February 2011 on digital pay TV platform Multichoice, will now be able to add this collection of Kung Fu classics to their existing action-packed programming, which is targeted at a core male audience. The channel currently has 3.3 million subscribers and is available in 48 countries in Africa via MultiChoice’s DStv Compact and Premium services.
“We are thrilled that our Shaw Brothers films can now be seen in the continent of Africa as well. It is a testimony to the evergreen entertainment value of these classics as well as the continued worldwide interest in martial arts movies and Chinese movies in general. Sony Max’s action focus, programming expertise and marketing power makes them the ideal partner to debut these films for African audiences,” said Gigi Ko, Director, Distribution, Celestial Pictures.
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