Boeing

Boeing Digital Cinema is enlisting the world's leading literary and talent agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), to help with the launch of its direct-to-cinema delivery system, which securely transmits first-run movies and alternative programming via satellite and fiber-optic network. Boeing Digital Cinema is a business of The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA).

With more than 25 years in the entertainment business, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) will counsel Boeing on the business strategy and marketing of Boeing Digital Cinema, a service that enhances the visual clarity, efficiency and economics of film distribution, while providing secure delivery content to consumer and corporate audiences. In addition, Boeing will look to CAA for guidance on content programming, price structuring, and alliance building, among other critical issues.

"Distributors, filmmakers and exhibitors recognize that digital delivery promises extraordinary economic advantages, unprecedented flexibility and consistently sharp images," said Frank Stirling, executive director of Boeing Digital Cinema. "Our technological expertise and CAA's central position within the entertainment community allow us to jointly plot a course that addresses the differing demands of studios, exhibitors, filmmakers, print labs and consumers."

Boeing Digital Cinema is a service that provides secure end-to-end transmission using the same technology employed by Boeing for years to deliver national security information for the U.S. Air Force, and also best-value technologies deployed in Boeing commercial satellites. From encryption upon receipt of content, to decryption at designated theatres, end-to-end multi-layered security ensures protection at each step of the process.

"Boeing Digital Cinema is poised to improve the economics of the movie business while enhancing the consumer entertainment experience," said CAA President Richard Lovett, referring to the inevitable cost-savings for studios and increased revenue streams for exhibitors and content owners. "Boeing and CAA have made enabling a secure, high-quality digital content delivery system a priority."

In the past year, Boeing has demonstrated the technical capability of the system and is now productizing it for commercial operations. Demonstrations thus far have included:

• Nov. 14, 2000: Miramax Films and Boeing presented "Bounce," starring Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, at the AMC Empire Theatre in New York.
• March 18, 2001: Dimension Films and Boeing presented the world's first digitally transmitted and projected premiere of an entire feature, "Spy Kids," at the Hyperion Theatre in Disney's California Adventure.
• May 1, 2001: Broadway Television Network and Boeing delivered by satellite its first alternative program, the Broadway hit "Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical," at the Pacific Theatre in Hollywood.

Digitally delivered content also will include nontraditional programming, such as concerts, sporting and corporate events, movie trailers, advertising and even the broadcast of educational programming inside theaters. To ensure that leading artists and executives in the entertainment industry can experience the benefits of Boeing Digital Cinema first-hand, Boeing will equip CAA's state-of-the-art screening room with a Boeing Digital Cinema system.

CAA's expertise in the digital delivery marketplace is bolstered by its work with technology companies including Motorola; Hughes Network Systems; NeTune, a satellite-based broadband service for mobile production environments; The Orphanage, a fully integrated digital studio; and TiVo.