Studio Plunges Into Streaming

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Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is making a big commitment to the streaming video space.

The Santa Monica studio announced partnerships last week with media company Univision Communications Inc. and video platform Vimeo Inc., respectively, to distribute its content.

As a result of the deals, Lions Gate will debut a Spanish-language subscription video-on-demand service with Univision next year that will include dubbed versions of films from Lions Gate’s 16,000-title library; Spanish-language box-office hits; and movies from Pantelion Films, a joint venture of Lions Gate and Mexican media company Grupo Televisa, whose 2013 movie “Instructions Not Included” is the top-grossing Spanish-language film of all time in the United States. The companies estimate a market of more than 50 million consumers in the United States.

“This new service has all the ingredients to be the leading premium movie channel for Hispanic audiences in the U.S. as well as a great addition to our growing portfolio of (subscription video-on-demand) services,” Jon Feltheimer, Lions Gate’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Vimeo, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, agreed to license almost all of Lions Gate’s television content, including hit shows “Orange Is the New Black” and “Mad Men,” for a new on-demand global TV store it plans to debut on Oct. 18. Vimeo has 45 million registered users and 213 million unique monthly viewers, according to IAC’s website.

– Caroline Anderson

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