TORONTO – Movieola – The Short Film Channel, has its sights set on U.S and European consumers – and on whatever platform they care to watch the channel’s shorts.
The company announced Wednesday it has hired Trajectory Sports & Media Group LLC to guide its expansion into the United States and other international markets, after spending some months finalizing agreements for the multiplatform and cross-border rights for its content. Movieola can now move its content from the linear TV channel and make it available on wireless or on demand or streamed from the web.
So far, Movieola has been able to gain carriage on some small American cable systems, but "the hiring of Trajectory has been to leverage their access on the American market," Cal Millar, Channel Zero’s vice-president and general manager told Cartt.ca. "We’re looking for some major carriage deals with carriers in the U.S. now."
Trajectory recently sold the Canadian Football League rights into the States and was able to get European sports channel Sentanta into the Dish Network lineup. It also is a client of The Fight Network and helped that Canadian channel get on Sprint’s wireless platform in the States.
Airing film subjects ranging in length from 30 seconds to 40 minutes, Movieola’s international expansion comes at a time when shorts films are capturing the imagination of young viewers, home-grown filmmakers and general audiences worldwide. Short films are ready-made for the iPod and mobile phone video generation.
Movieola schedules award-winning films from all around the world, ranging from drama, comedy, action, documentary, animation, etc. The service has been available across Canada since 2001 from the Toronto, Ontario-based company, owned by Channel Zero Inc.
Channel Zero also owns and operates Silver Screen Classics. However, the rights to old movies are far more difficult to gain to move them to other platforms and other countries.
In addition to seeking new traditional television distribution, Trajectory also will be assisting Movieola in expanding to wireless technology and multiplatform capabilities in Europe, Asia and other markets.
"Movieola’s short film format is ideally suited for a broad range of viewers, including those who move from the TV screen to the cell phone screen and use multiple media resources," added Richard Stone, president of Trajectory Sports and Media Group. "It offers the kind of differentiated content essential for successful niche channels and emerging technology."
– Greg O’Brien
