Christie's Digital Cinema Projectors Selected by Major Theaters in Asia

- Promoting Digital Cinema in China and India -

Christie Digital Systems, Inc. (California, U.S.A.; CEO: Kenji Hamashima; as "Christie"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ushio Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; President: Shiro Sugata, as Ushio), is pleased to announce that it has secured exclusive supply contracts with companies in China and India to purchase Christie's industry leading and state-of-the-art Digital Cinema Projection systems (DCPs). These companies under a separate agreement with commercial cinema exhibitors will provide Christie DCPs to cinema exhibitors in China and India to accelerate the transition from film to digital cinema projection. The adoption of Christie’s DCPs in the two Asian countries was announced at ShoWest, held in Las Vegas from March 10th to 13th.

Shanghai Film Group (SFG) Corporation, a company that operates the United Circuit—the largest multiplex cinema chain in China—has formally decided to select Christie's CP2000 series projectors exclusively for its digital cinema deployment plan in the country. Under the initial phase of this plan, SFG will purchase and install a total of 100 Christie's DCPs in the United Circuit cinemas. The installation is planned to be completed by the end of April 2008.

After extensive testing of Christie's DCPs, SFG has formally decided to select the projectors, recognizing the high-resolution pictures, superior image quality, and reliability of the product, as demonstrated by its commanding 80% worldwide market share, with a total of 4,600 systems installed worldwide.

"SFG holds an important place in the China cinema market. It will benefit greatly from this digital rollout and play a part in developing the enormous potential of cinema in China," says Lin Yu, Vice President of sales, Christie Asia Pacific.

Scrabble Entertainment (SE) has decided to adopt a total of 200 Christie's DCPs for the largest single Digital Cinema roll-out plan in India. SE will be the first company to introduce DCI compliant Digital Cinema systems in India. SE will act as an intermediary between filmmakers and exhibitors to finance the multiplex cinema chains' transition to digital by collecting a negotiated "Virtual Print Fee (VPF)*1" from content distributors. SE plans to install a total of 1,750 projectors over the next five years, or an average of 350 units per year.

The first multiplex cinema chain to sign up for the SE's Digital Cinema roll-out plan is PVR Cinemas. One of the largest cinema chains in India, PVR Cinemas has a total of 103 screens across the country. It was also the first company to construct a "multiplex cinema" in India in 1997. Other companies who have signed up include Fame Cinemas, INOX and Cinemax Theatres.

"We've been using Christie film projectors in our theatres for many years. Over the years, the projectors have provided excellent results in terms of consistency and reliability, which speaks to the quality of the technology. This deployment plan is a natural progression for us to move to the next level together with Christie. By taking the leap to digital, we hope to trigger a domino effect for the local cinema industry and to enhance the cinematic experience for our patrons," comments Amitabh Vardhan, CEO, PVR Cinemas.

Christie has deployed approximately 3,800 DCPs in North America under the Access Integrated Technologies, Inc. (hereafter "AccessIT.") DCP deployment program*2. Currently, AccessIT, a North American based company willing to help exhibitors finance the conversion to digital cinema systems, plans to deploy an additional 10,000 Digital Cinema systems as the "Phase Two" of the deployment program is being studied. On March 11th, the company announced that four major motion picture studios in the United States had signed VPF contracts with AccessIT.

http://investor.accessitx.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=298542

Moreover, the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP)*3is currently studying its plan to deploy 16,000 Digital Cinema Projectors. In Europe, the project by AAM (Arts Alliance Media), for which Christie supplied 400 systems last year, is expected to go on to deploy another 6,000 systems.

*1 Virtual Print Fee (VPF)
VPF refers to the payment made by a Distributor (content provider) to a company, like ChristieAIX, each time a Distributor and Exhibitor agree to exhibit a movie on a digitally equipped projection system. A VPF is used to finance movie theaters' transition to digital, including the cost of purchasing DCPs.

*2 DCP deployment program
Under the Digital Cinema program implemented by AccessIT and AAM, a special purpose company (SPC) makes bulk purchases of DCPs, then contracts with exhibitors to have them installed in multiplexes. The VPF paid by the content distributors pays for a major share of the DCP system costs. This makes it easy for multiplex cinema chains to transition to digital, because they only pay a portion of the system costs along with the annual maintenance fees, fees for replacing lamps, and the installation fees.　The SPC gradually recoups the cost for purchasing DCPs from the VPF over a long period.

*3 Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP)
DCIP was jointly formed by three major multiplex cinema chains in the United States, including Regal Entertainment Group, the largest cinema chain in the world, AMC Entertainment Inc., which is the second largest circuit in the world, and the Cinemark USA, Inc. which is ranked third in the industry. The three companies own operate approximately 16,000 screens.

*The figures for China and India also include old-model and portable-type projectors using carbon arc lamps, as well as the number of modern projectors using xenon lamps installed in each country.

Established in 1964, Ushio Inc. is the foremost manufacturer of industrial light sources and lighting equipment. It makes light sources for office automation equipment including facsimile and copier machines, special lighting devices for stores, stage and studio effect lighting systems, and lamps for exposure systems and optical equipment used in semiconductor/LCD fabrication. The Company has also since its establishment manufactured xenon lamps for cinema projectors. The quality and reliability of the xenon lamps have been highly valued all over the world, giving the Company an impressive 55% worldwide market share (according to research by Ushio Inc.). The xenon lamps have been used for various analog and digital cinema projectors deployed in the world, including those of Christie. Consolidated sales for the fiscal year that ended in March 2007 reached 151.5 billion yen. The company employs a workforce of 4,782 (a