While Image Entertainment Inc. struggles to gain solid footing in the digital and broadcast markets, the company recently landed what may prove to be a rather lucrative music video deal.
The Chatsworth-based home entertainment distributor recently acquired the rights to “The Who at Kilburn: 1977,” which has not been available or seen publicly since it was first filmed almost 31 years ago.
Image acquired international home video and broadcast TV rights to the rare concert film from Los Angeles-based Spitfire Pictures. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Rock band the Who performed at Gaumont State Theatre in Kilburn, North London, to record a concert for Jeff Stein’s documentary film “The Kids Are Alright” in 1977, but only a few snippets of the actual concert were ever released. It was the second to last concert former Who drummer Keith Moon performed in before his untimely death in 1978.
It was shot on 35 mm film using six cameras and was recorded on a 16-track audio recorder, a rare feat for the time.
Spitfire, which produced DVD documentaries such as “Amazing Journey: The Who” and “No Way Home: Bob Dylan,” digitally remastered the 35 mm footage and the 16-track audio recorded at the Kilburn concert, including a never-before-seen live rendition of “Tommy.”
Major Leagues
There’s nothing like sports for promoting content across multiple platforms, from television to the Internet and mobile devices. But when it comes to Major League Baseball, the league has kept a pretty tight grip on the ball.
You won’t find much video online, with the exception of Yahoo, which just began streaming games in June.
So, it was a little surprising last week when the league signed an agreement with Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN to extend its broadcast coverage, and its content online and in other new media formats.
The agreement includes rights for ESPN.com, ESPN360.com and ESPN’s mobile partners to use MLB content on emerging platforms including video game consoles, interactive television and smartphones.
The deal also covers all new platforms with which ESPN creates or develops relationships during the next five years, and includes digital rights that extend worldwide, except in select Asian and Pacific Rim markets.
The deal with MLB represents ESPN’s most comprehensive multiplatform collection of baseball rights ever, according to the company.
Ticket Rankings
A company that ranks national ticket sales by event and by seller, Conn.-based Ticketnews.com, expects its charts to become much more interesting once Live Nation’s contract expires with the new stand-alone Ticketmaster.
That’s because West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster Inc. is always at the top of the charts, week after week, while Live Nation fluctuates between the third and fourth spots, behind Ticketmaster and Stubhub, a secondary ticket reseller.
The problem is that Ticketnews.com uses Web ticket purchases to gauge which companies are selling the most tickets. Many times a consumer may go to the Live Nation site, but because tickets to Live Nation events are often sold through Ticketmaster, the Ticketmaster site gets more activity.
That will all change when Live Nation ventures out on its own by year’s end, which is unrelated to the decision by Barry Diller to spin off Ticketmaster from his IAC/InterActive holding company.
IAC also is spinning off three other units: HSN Inc., a TV and online shopping network; Tree.com Inc., which operates online lender LendingTree; and Interval Inc., a time-share vacation planning service.
IAC continues to own Ask.com, Match.com and other Internet properties.
Movin’ Over
Don Corsini recently resigned as president-general manager of KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and KCAL-TV (Channel 9).
According to Hollywood trade buzz, Corsini may be heading over to Tribune Co.’s KTLA-TV (Channel 5), where the general manager slot has been vacant since February.
It’s expected that Corsini will be succeeded by Patrick McClenahan, station manager at KCBS and KCAL.
Corsini has headed up KCBS and KCAL since the stations merged in mid-2002. Prior to the merger, he had led KCAL for six years and before that worked in programming at KABC-TV (Channel 7).
Staff Reporter Brett Sporich can be reached at [email protected], or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 226.
