Kinopolis Selects XDC as Digital Cinema Enabler

Pan-European digital cinema services company XDC has signed a deal with German exhibitor Kinopolis for full upgrade of its 123 screens to digital cinema technology. Deployment will be managed by both XDC and its technical partner/subsidiary FTT, with full conversion aimed for end 2011. As a result, Kinopolis becomes the first major exhibitor in Germany to target a full digital upgrade. Following a similar agreement with fellow circuit Kieft and Kieft earlier this year, XDC remains the only integrator to have signed deployment deals in Germany. This does not include the prospective roll-out of Odeon UCI, the largest European operator, which plans to manage and finance its transition independently, including 211 screens through German subsidiary UCI Kinowelt.

Analysis
This deal will act as a further catalyst for other major exhibitors to commence large-scale deployment in Germany, which has so far lagged behind other European territories, such as France and UK where 18 per cent of screens were digitised by end 2009, compared with just 11 per cent in Germany. Moreover, German roll-out has been typified by progress made by smaller independent exhibitors. For example, the top five exhibitors provided just 38 per cent of active installed digital systems, compared with a much larger 60 per cent ratio for the top five in the UK, as at end first quarter 2010. Kinopolis, as the fifth largest exhibitor in Germany, has already converted 27 screens to digital 3D, or one fifth of its screen base, for 3D purposes.