LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cinedigm Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM) today announced the Company has closed the final share transfer in connection with its previously announced deal to acquire approximately 27% of the outstanding equity of leading Chinese entertainment company Starrise Media Holdings Limited (Starrise) (1616. HK) from existing holders as part of an all-stock transaction. The Company now holds 385,542,162 shares of Starrise common equity, which it acquired for 51,501,685 shares of Cinedigm common equity.
“Now that we have fully finalized this transaction, we will move rapidly to implement operational plans to increase Cinedigm’s presence and leverage in both the Chinese and North American markets,” said Chris McGurk, Cinedigm Chairman and CEO. “These are the two biggest entertainment markets in the world, with combined Film and Television revenues estimated to be approximately US$180 billion in 2018. Together with our fast-growing streaming business, where we recently announced ad supported viewer growth of 108% in the period from October 2019 to March 2020 alone, this positioning as a OTT-oriented North America/China studio underscores the Company’s strong growth prospects and unique competitive leverage.”Utilizing  those unique OTT and independent content distribution capabilities, Cinedigm has already been working to develop strategies and forge partnerships to release entertainment content and develop OTT channels in China while, reciprocally, releasing Chinese content and new OTT channels in North America, such as the recently launched Chinese language content channel, Bambu.Starrise’ Film/TV business segment mainly invests in film, television and other short form content. Starrise distributes film content theatrically and to all key media platforms in China and is committed to significantly growing its investment in entertainment content for the rapidly expanding Chinese theatrical and digital marketplaces. Recent prominent film investments by Starrise include The Wandering Earth, one of the most successful Chinese films ever released, generating almost US $700 million at the box office in China in 2019 and The Grandmaster of Kung Fu, a successful internet-released action movie.ABOUT CINEDIGMSince inception, Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM) has been a leader at the forefront of the digital transformation of content distribution. Adjusting to the rapidly transforming business needs of today’s entertainment landscape, Cinedigm remains a change-centric player focused on providing content, channels and services to the world’s largest media, technology and retail companies, with a strong competitive position in the two largest entertainment markets, North America and China. Cinedigm’s Content and Networks groups provide original and aggregated programming, channels and services that entertain consumers globally across hundreds of millions of devices. For more information, visit www.cinedigm.com.Cinedigm™ and Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp™ are trademarks of Cinedigm Corp. www.cinedigm.com. [CIDM-G]Safe Harbor StatementInvestors and readers are cautioned that certain statements contained in this document are “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”). Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, which depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, which include words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “could,” “might,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” or similar expressions. In addition, any statements concerning completion of the transactions described in this document, future financial performance (including future revenues, earnings or growth rates), ongoing business strategies or prospects, and possible future actions, which may be provided by Cinedigm’s management, are also forward-looking statements as defined by the Act. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events and are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions about Cinedigm, its technology, economic and market factors and the industries in which Cinedigm does business, among other things. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and Cinedigm undertakes no specific obligation or intention to update these statements after the date of this release.ContactCinedigm
Jill Newhouse Calcaterra
310-466-5135
[email protected]
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