Company Expands International Content Platform into World's
Fastest Growing Media Market
SANTA MONICA, Calif. and MUMBAI,
India, Oct. 23, 2017 /CNW/
-- Global content leader Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) has
named leading media executive and entrepreneur Rohit Jain, a 20-year veteran of the Indian
media industry, to head its new office in Mumbai, India, the Company announced
today.
Jain has served for the past seven years as Deputy CEO of
Videocon d2h, a media company that he helped grow from a start-up
to over $1 billion in annual revenues
through a combination of organic growth and strategic
transactions. Jain helped orchestrate Videocon's successful
listing on Nasdaq in 2015 followed by the announcement of its
merger with Dish TV India in 2016.
Lionsgate India will spearhead all licensing to local linear and
digital platforms in the territory from feature films, television
series and library content under the Lionsgate and Starz
brands. It will work closely with the studio's theatrical
distribution partners to maximize box office for Lionsgate films,
and it will partner with local production companies to develop
intellectual property for theatrical release as well as
distribution across other media platforms. Lionsgate India
will also explore investment opportunities throughout the Indian
media market.
Boasting the world's second largest consumer population and
fastest-growing middle class, India has achieved double-digit annual growth
across television, film, interactive games and delivery of content
to digital platforms. With over 800 television channels, more
than 30 over-the-top platforms, 8,500 theatrical exhibition screens
and an evolving interactive game business, opportunities for
content producers and distributors are continuing to increase.
"We've been focused on the enormous opportunity created by the
Indian marketplace for years, and Rohit checks off all the boxes as
the right executive to lead our business there," said Lionsgate
Chief Executive Officer Jon
Feltheimer. "Lionsgate brings to this territory a
global content platform, an entrepreneurial mind set, and the
agility of a next generation digital age company. Rohit is
ideally qualified to leverage these strengths into accelerating
growth and new business initiatives in the years ahead."
"I'm thrilled to join Jon and the rest of the Lionsgate team as
we continue to build the Company's brand in India," said Jain. "India is the next logical frontier for
Lionsgate's multiplatform content creation, marketing expertise and
digital initiatives, and I'm incredibly excited at the
opportunities that lie ahead."
Prior to his tenure at Videocon, Jain worked at Aon,
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte.
Lionsgate has been steadily expanding its global content
platform with the continued growth of Lionsgate UK into a leading
film and television production and distribution company, a growing
operation in China that has
established strong relationships with nearly all major platforms in
the territory and increased the studio's box office gross by 63%
from last year, and a new Canadian office that was opened in
Toronto earlier this year.
In the past few years, the Company has tripled its revenue from
India and launched the hit
Hindi-language film Brothers, a remake of Lionsgate's
critically-acclaimed Warrior. A Hindi-language remake
of the studio's action hit comedy Red is also in the
works. Rohit Tiwari of Morris
Street Advisors, who had previously served as Lionsgate's local
sales agent in India, has
transitioned to a consulting relationship to Lionsgate India."
ABOUT LIONSGATE
The first major new studio in decades, Lionsgate is a global
content platform whose films, television series, digital products
and linear and over-the-top platforms reach next generation
audiences around the world. In addition to its filmed
entertainment leadership, Lionsgate content drives a growing
presence in interactive and location-based entertainment, gaming,
virtual reality and other new entertainment technologies.
Lionsgate's content initiatives are backed by a 16,000-title film
and television library and delivered through a global licensing
infrastructure. The Lionsgate brand is synonymous with
original, daring and ground-breaking content created with special
emphasis on the evolving patterns and diverse composition of the
Company's worldwide consumer base.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Peter D. Wilkes
Lionsgate
310-255-3726
PWilkes@lionsgate.com
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SOURCE Lionsgate