EL REY NETWORK AND CELESTIAL PICTURES BOOST MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP TO BRING VIEWERS THE BEST IN CLASSIC MARTIAL ARTS
Austin, TX and Hong Kong - July 28, 2014 - El Rey Network (El Rey), maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's new genre-busting cable network, and Celestial Pictures Limited (Celestial Pictures) announced today a long-term programming partnership. The new five-year deal begins October 1, 2014, extending and expanding on an existing program licensing agreement. The new deal will provide the network with access to 255 iconic martial arts titles from the Shaw Brothers vault – the world's leading martial arts collection, many on an exclusive basis. Financial terms were not disclosed. The parties are also in discussion on new original programming concepts based on the Shaw Brothers’ films.
New titles available to El Rey through the deal include "The Five Deadly Venoms," "Mad Monkey Kung Fu," "The Brave Archer Trilogy" and "Have Sword Will Travel," which will air throughout the schedule as well as during the network's monthly Kung Fu marathons. All films come with English subtitles and/or English dubbed tracks.
Robert Rodriguez, El Rey Network founder and chairman, said: "These iconic films have really resonated with our viewers and we are excited to be the American home of this incredible library. As a kid, I found this kind of content wildly entertaining and these dazzling, kinetic and epic spectacles are still a great inspiration in the work I do to this day."
Kristen Tong, Chief Operating Officer of Celestial Pictures, added: “We are delighted to build on our strong relationship with El Rey and Robert. The network has already proven to be a great platform to showcase our classic titles to a new audience, and we look forward topursuing further exciting opportunities together.”
About El Rey Network:
El Rey Network is a new 24-hour English language network founded by maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. Curated by Rodriguez and his artistic collective, the network unites the most culturally diverse generation in history through fearless, badass and original content that awakens the renegade in everyone. The network's action-packed content is anchored by original signature dramas, feature films, grindhouse genre, cult classic action, and horror/sci-fi. El Rey Network LLC (www.elreynetwork.com) is jointly owned by Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures with a minority stake held by Univision Networks & Studios, Inc.
About Celestial Pictures Limited:
Celestial Pictures Limited (Celestial Pictures) is a diversified entertainment company bringing the best in Asian entertainment to the world. The company focuses on film and television content origination, aggregation and worldwide distribution.
Celestial Pictures owns the Shaw Brothers library, the world's largest Chinese film collection, with over 760 feature films originally released over a fifty year period. The library has inspired countless filmmakers with its vast pool of classics including THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS, HEX, THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN, ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, KING BOXER and THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. These award-winning films have been digitally restored frame-by-frame for global distribution. The company has also been active in producing new film content, both originals and remakes based on the Shaw Brothers library films. Recent releases include PERHAPS LOVE, MY KINGDOM and CONTROL.
Celestial Pictures has a substantial investment in Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), a venture withSaban Capital Group and Lionsgate. It operates branded pay television channels and produces and distributes content for Asian audiences. CTE's channel bouquet includes CELESTIAL MOVIES, CELESTIAL CLASSIC MOVIES, CELESTIAL MOVIES HD, cHK,KIX, KIX HD and THRILL, with a footprint that spans Asia and Australia.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Celestial Pictures is owned by ASTRO Holdings Sdn Bhd (ASTRO), a leading integrated consumer media entertainment group in Malaysia and South East Asia. ASTRO owns a portfolio of international and regional investments in Pay TV, Radio, Publications and Digital Media. ASTRO's Malaysian domestic Pay TV business has a customer base of over 3.5 million residential customers (approximately 52% penetration of Malaysian TV households), and offers 170 TV channels, including 37 HD channels, delivered via Direct-To-Home satellite TV, IPTV and OTT platforms.
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Contact:
Katie Lanegran
Vice President, Publicity
El Rey Network
646-560-4986
Katie@elreynetwork.com
Jenny McIntosh
FerenComm for El Rey Network
212-983-9898
Jennym@ferencomm.com
