In a rare joint promotion, Buena Vista Television and New
Line Television will team up to promote two urban-oriented pay-per-view titles premiering
this month.
The promotion, which began last week, will provide
purchasers of Buena Vista's Nothing to Lose ($44.5 million in box-office revenues)
and New Line's Money Talks ($40.9 million) films with value-added gifts, said
executives from both companies. Subscribers who submit their cable bills to operators will
receive a complimentary Money Talks T-shirt and a copy of the popular Nothing to
Lose soundtrack.
The promotion will appear at the beginning of each film, as
well as during each movie's final credits. Buena Vista and New Line will also provide
spots to operators to run on barker channels and cross-channel avails.
Joint PPV promotions among studios are very rare, as they
generally jockey for the maximum amount of promotion for their titles. But Request
Television and Viewer's Choice have had success in combining promotions for several
genre-specific titles under one marketing campaign.
Sal Sardo, senior vice president of advertising and
creative services for Buena Vista, said the combined resources of both studios will help
to maximize the performance for both movies.
"We are always exploring new avenues to promote our
movies in PPV, [and] we believe that marketing the two films together, which have a common
appeal, will contribute greatly to both performances," he said.
David Spiegelman, executive vice president of domestic
television distribution for New Line, said the joint campaign can foster greater awareness
of the industry.
"Our two companies have been completely supportive of
the PPV marketplace, and this is just one more opportunity to create awareness of PPV and
to generate some excitement for the category," he said.
