Image Strikes Fruitful Deal With Apple
August 22, 2008

Consider it a good month for Image Entertainment.

Last week, the home-entertainment distributor of independent films such as Sidney Lumet’s Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead and The Air I Breathe said its sales for the most recently completed quarter were the highest in almost three years.

The news got better this week after the company struck a deal to distribute its film and television titles on Apple’s iTunes service. In addition to movies like Devil and stand-up comedy titles such as Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, Image will sell digital versions of classic television series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and I Spy on iTunes, Image said yesterday.

The distribution deal is a coup for Image because Apple is picky when it comes to distributing indie films on iTunes. Many filmmakers have turned to content aggregators such as New Films, which has signed short-term deals for digital rights and in some cases video-on-demand rights for films and TV shows from more than 85 partners, including filmmakers such as Ed Burns to suppliers Acorn Media and Stephen J. Cannell Productions. New Films has an existing agreement with Apple so it can serve as a middle man of sorts for filmmakers looking to make their movies available on iTunes, which Apple says sells or rents more than 50,000 movies a day.

The timing couldn’t be better for Image, which turned a profit for the quarter ended June 30 as sales jumped 56%. The company, which faces the possibility of a delisting if its stock doesn’t rise above $1.22 a share (it was trading at about $1.15 today) and terminated a buyout bid from BTP Acquisition Co. in February, has been trying to turn around its finances by boosting the number of its direct-to-DVD releases and digital-delivery business while acquiring more films and targeting the rental channel as a new revenue stream.

Posted by Danny King on August 22, 2008 | Comments (0)