Empire Theatres, The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM) today announced that they will team up to broadcast coverage of NBA All-Star Saturday Night in Live 3D at Empire Theatres' Empress Walk location in North York, ON. The announcement represents the first-ever fully marketed deal to deliver an NBA sporting event to the public in Live 3D in Canada. This Live 3D HD event which Cinedigm is also bringing to more than 80 theatres across the United States continues to expand the league's groundbreaking efforts in 3D HD.
"Empire Theatres and Cinedigm are the ideal partners to work with in delivering the next evolution of 3D HD to our fans in Canada," said Dan MacKenzie, General Manager, NBA Canada, Inc. "We have embraced 3D HD as a new and innovative way to experience the excitement of our game. We look forward to Basketball fans at Empire Theatres Empress Walk having a courtside seat for All-Star Saturday Night." "Cinedigm is the only company that can deliver Live 3D broadcast on this scale to cinemas and we are thrilled to be working with the NBA and Empire Theatres on this event," said Bud Mayo, Chairman and CEO of Cinedigm. "This groundbreaking, publicly available event is a demonstration of the benefits brought to audiences through true digital cinema experiences. Whether it's bringing live 3D events or 3D movies to theatres or allowing theatres to custom-tailor the content they deliver to moviegoers, we are bringing new cinema-based entertainment options to consumers and new revenue streams to theatres," added Bud Mayo.
"Empire Theatres is thrilled to now be a member of Cinedigm's CineLive(TM) network of theatres and to be the exclusive cinema chain chosen to carry the first-ever 3D HD NBA event in Canada in a movie theatre environment" says Dean Leland, Vice President Media & Studio Relations, Empire Theatres. "Fans will enjoy the game from the comfort of a high back seat, with exceptional sound and 3D visual technology, a thrill for us to present at our Empress Walk complex in North York" says Leland.
The technology being used to deliver this exciting game has been developed by Cinedigm in conjunction with International Datacasting Corporation, (TSX:IDC), based in Ottawa and SIO(R), (TSV:SEN), based in Montreal. CineLive(TM) enables the live broadcast to movie theatres of both 2D and 3D live events such as sports and concerts.
The NBA has been a sports pioneer in live 3D HD. The league featured the first live sports event in 3D HD with special viewing parties for NBA All-Star 2007. For Game 2 of The Finals in 2007, at the direction of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the NBA delivered the first public viewing of a live sporting event in 3D HD when more than 14,000 fans in the Quicken Loans Arena watched the Cavaliers take on the San Antonio Spurs on four 60-foot screens. Last season, the Dallas Mavericks produced and delivered the first live 3D HD sporting event to a motion picture theatre at the Landmark Theater in Dallas to 500 fans.
NBA fans will be able to cheer together from the equivalent of courtside seats as the leagues' top players compete in the following major events (competitors to be announced closer to the event).
