ION Television announced Thursday that it has acquired
the rights to six titles from Starz Media, LLC, the network's first acquisition
of first-run broadcast rights to movie titles.
The agreement includes Anchor Bay Films and Overture
Films' Traitor, City Island, Solitary Man,
The Visitor, A Nanny for Christmas and The
Open Road, owned by Starz Media. The movies will be featured as part of ION's
Big Movie Weekend, which has seen double-digit growth in the A25-54 demo on a
year-to-year basis. They will air exclusively on ION beginning in November and
continue on the schedule through 2013.
"Forming a relationship
with Starz Media is a win/win, as it brings quality theatrical movie content to
U.S. households nationwide and demonstrates how a growing ION Television
provides an outlet for independent content creators," says Brandon Burgess,
CEO, ION Media Networks. "We welcome such content collaborations going
forward."
