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Valuable Group, Owner of UFO Movies’ acquire MovieBean
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According to this release Valuable Group, the owner of UFO Movies brand has acquired MovieBean, the wireless film rental service. Sanjay Gaikwad led Valuable Group will be taking over the assets, trademarks, IPR, of MovieBean. The size of the deal is not confirmed but Medianama predicts it’s less than $10 million.
MovieBean was staretd as a Push Video On Demand service by Disney in 2005. A set-top box used to be given to the customer, priced at $149 (as of August 2007). The movies were priced at $1.99 for older ones to $4.99 for the new releases in HD. He movie rental expired in 24 hours. The set top box was quite high end having HDMI and optical output functions. After Disney spin off the company in 2006, Intel, Ciscoand several other investors invested in it. The service, however never really took off, and was ultimately sold to Movie Gallery Inc., reportedly for $10 million.
Sanjay Gaikwad of Valuable Group said on this,
“This acquisition was a strategic fit in our global expansion strategy for our Media and Entertainment vertical. Through this acquisition Valuable will further establish itself as a leader in the media and entertainment space allowing us to deliver ethnic and Hollywood content to homes and the hospitality industry worldwide. Films will be delivered in High Definition and viewers will get access to library films as well as the latest releases on a first day first show basis. We have earmarked an investment of 100 million dollars over the next two years for the re-launch of this service in North America, UK and other overseas markets,”
Ameya Hete, Executive Director, Valuable Group and CEO MovieBeam, who is spearheading this initiative, commented on the rollout plans stating,
 ”This service will completely redefine the on-demand entertainment market. We have added some cutting edge features to the MovieBeam service that will bring additional and currently unrealized revenues back to the Entertainment industry and the deserving constituents. We will be rolling out the service by the end of 2008 in 3 markets.”
UFO Moviez main business is digital distribution of films to the theaters via satellites. UFO Moviez is the biggest player in the world in digital satellite distribution and has been recently making inroads into the world entertainment industry. Through this acquisition, the focus will be on digital delivery of content to the audience’s homes. Although the home rental market is different from the theater exhibition one, UFO Moviez’ expertise in delivering films digitally to the theater will help them in creating a strong proposition for the home rental business.
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