Disney Signs Agreement With Cinea to Adopt Antipiracy Protection Solution for Secure Awards Screeners

Disney Signs Agreement With Cinea to Adopt Antipiracy Protection Solution for Secure Awards Screeners

2005 DVD Screeners From Disney to Feature Latest Cinea Anti-Piracy Protection

BURBANK, Calif., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Launching an aggressive new effort to combat piracy, The Walt Disney Studios will utilize state-of-the-art encryption technology from Cinea, a subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, for 2005 DVD awards screeners. The agreement, which marks a major milestone in the search for an industry-wide solution to deter movie piracy, was announced today by Dick Cook, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios; Jeff Miller, President, worldwide post production and operations; and Bill Jasper, president and chief executive officer, Dolby Laboratories.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050627/LAM109LOGO )

Piracy is one of the biggest threats to the cinema industry, resulting in lost jobs and lost revenues. To combat piracy, Cinea developed its innovative solution, which provides copy protection and piracy tracking for DVDs. Cinea's solution includes the S-VIEW(TM) DVD player and encryption technology to safeguard content. The S-VIEW DVD player offers the highest-quality picture and sound. It also plays standard DVDs.

In collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cinea has distributed the SV300 model of its S-VIEW DVD player to nearly 12,000 of the collective voting members. Recipients of the Cinea S-VIEW players simply need to install the player as part of their home entertainment system, as they would install a regular DVD player, and make a phone call or go online to register with Cinea.

Cinea encrypts each disc with a code unique to each member. The Cinea disc delivered to each member will play only on the Cinea S-VIEW DVD player registered by that member. A Cinea encrypted disc cannot be viewed on any other DVD player or computer.

Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, "Obviously, there is no substitute for seeing a movie on the big screen in a theater, and we strongly encourage everyone to experience our films in that way. With regard to home viewing, we have given the matter careful consideration, and have committed to using Cinea's encryption technology on award screeners this year. This process offers maximum protection for our films, while allowing key members of the Academy, BAFTA, and a few other select organizations the opportunity to view these contenders in the comfort of their own homes. Of equal importance, it protects legitimate recipients of these screeners against interception and theft of the DVDs. It is our hope that others will join us in this aggressive stand against piracy, and we believe that Cinea enables an important step in that direction."

Miller added, "We are excited to be working with Cinea in providing the highest available level of security and copy protection for our films. Safeguarding our films and intellectual properties are top priorities here at Disney, and Cinea's secure S-VIEW player provides the best solution to address our concerns about the theft of high-grade digital copies in advance of our home entertainment release window. Dolby and Cinea have pioneered this impressive technology, and we salute their commitment to quality home viewing and security. It is vitally important that we all work together to eliminate piracy and protect creative content. We look forward to working with Cinea on future opportunities to incorporate playability on various devices such as portables, computers, and so on. We are also exploring the possibility of incorporating Cinea's security technology into our entire post-production process."

"We welcome Disney as the first studio to adopt our anti-piracy protection solution," said Jasper. "This agreement underscores Disney's long-term commitment to the protection of content and its aggressive stance to stop movie piracy. Likewise, Cinea is committed to helping the entertainment industry by providing a solution for protecting high-value content. Our players are designed to incorporate the ease-of-use necessary for even the most nontechnical person. Screener recipients only need to make a quick call and register -- it's that simple."

Registration Is Easy

Several convenient and easy options are available to help recipients of the Cinea S-VIEW DVD players register their machines -- a necessary step before the players can be used. Registration can be completed by calling 1-888-323-4383 (from the US) and 1-818-823-2878 (from outside the US), or by going online to https://register.cinea.com/. Cinea is also making special in-house technicians available to those experiencing difficulty or who have any questions about setting up their player.

About The Walt Disney Studios

Walt Disney Studios is a unit of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and distributes motion pictures under Walt Disney Pictures -- which includes Walt Disney Feature Animation and DisneyToon Studios -- Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax Films. Buena Vista International serves as the studio's international distribution arm. Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment International together distribute Disney and other film titles to the rental and sell-through home entertainment markets worldwide. Buena Vista Theatrical Productions is one of the largest producers of Broadway musicals, and the Buena Vista Music Group distributes original music and motion picture soundtracks under its four record labels: Walt Disney Records, Buena Vista Records, Hollywood Records and Lyric Street Records.

S-VIEW is a trademark of Cinea.

Contacts:

For The Walt Disney Studios:
Heidi Trotta
818-560-7280
heidi.trotta@disney.com

For Cinea:
Elana Altshuler
323-933-3399 ext. 258
ealtshuler@mprm.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050627/LAM109LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: The Walt Disney Studios

CONTACT: Heidi Trotta of The Walt Disney Studios, +1-818-560-7280,
heidi.trotta@disney.com; or Elana Altshuler of Cinea, +1-323-933-3399
ext. 258, ealtshuler@mprm.com

-------
Profile: intent