Miramax wants its own TV channels
October 5, 2011
From Chris Forrester @ MIPCOM
Miramax is sitting on a portfolio of 756 very highly regarded films, ranging from classics like ‘Pulp Fiction’ to ‘Muriel’s Wedding’. The movies are already available on OTT systems such as NetFlix and Hulu, and at this week’s Mipcom the studio talked exclusively to Advanced-Television.com about its plans for the future.
Joe Patrick, Miramax’s SVP for Worldwide TV, said launching its own TV channels was a high priority. “We recognise it’s a crowded world out there, but we feel our catalogue has a real value. The brand has huge recognition, and good content will always win out. We also think advertisers will love the brand because of its association with high quality movies. I don’t think we are going to have a very hard job selling the concept.”
Patrick said Miramax was already in discussion with many European and Asian operators, as well as North America. “We also recognise that there are many new players out there, new markets or where someone is looking to differentiate their service and that could also give us a way in.”
“It was the same when HD launched, it gave a fresh chance to many channels. This could be the same for us. We are ready with dynamic new content, and this could initially be for ‘on-demand’ platforms as well as traditional broadcast or space on a satellite. A Miramax channel might just be an APP on an iPad, or on a satellite over Russia. The world is changing, and there’s no set formula that we are married to. When Miramax was owned by Disney they did not exploit the Miramax angle. We will.”