PARIS — A European project to test satellite delivery of digital cinema and other programming has ended its test phase with mixed results, but backers say the idea is certain to catch on given related developments in the United States, China and separate investments in Europe.
The 2 million-euro ($2.2 million), two-year E-Screen project, co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and industrial partners Elsacom S.p.A. of Italy, United Cinemas International of Britain and market analysts Screen Digest of Britain, was intended to stimulate the development of high-definition cinema delivered by satellite at seven test theaters in five European nations.
The project is similar to Boeing Co.’s Boeing Digital Cinema in the United States and has run into some of the same obstacles.
While being able to send full-length movies in high-definition digital format to an unlimited number of theaters through a satellite link saves money over using mail couriers to deliver 35-millimeter film cartridges, it requires an investment of $100,000 or more by theater owners in new projection equipment.
In addition to that obstacle, satellite cinema backers have confronted the relative lack of content available in high-definition format, in part because Hollywood studios have yet to settle on a common technical standard for the service.
But both these problems are considered temporary, according to Patrick von Sychowsky, senior analyst at Screen Digest. In a Sept. 5 interview, von Sychowsky said the annual global bill for manufacturing, packaging and mailing 35-millimeter films to theaters is estimated at $1.2 billion. The prospect of eliminating many of these charges through satellite delivery is almost certain to persuade distributors to share the cost of film-projection upgrades with theaters, once the number of films shot in high-definition format is sufficient to make the investment worthwhile, he said.
"Right now the advantages of digital cinema are heavily weighted toward the distributors, who reap the savings, rather than toward the film exhibitors, who have to make the investment," said Gerald C. Buckle, vice president of business affairs at United Cinema International (UCI), an E-Screen partner with ESA and the owner/operator of more than 1,000 cinema screens in Europe, Asia and South America.
Buckle said Sept. 5 that UCI is so convinced of the merits of satellite delivery that it has installed, since early 2002, satellite-reception equipment at 40 cinemas to receive standard-definition cinema releases without waiting for the clearer high-definition to catch on in Hollywood. In addition to films, UCI has used the satellite links to beam live musical events to theaters.
One of the savings that Europe’s cinema hopes to reap with digital cinema is the cost of producing the same film in different languages before sending the tapes to theater destinations. Francesco Feliciani, head of ESA’s telecommunications applications section, said in a Sept. 4 interview that with digital film sent by satellite, multiple language options may be sent in the same file, with theater owners then selecting a language — similar to what consumers do today with DVDs and CD-ROMs.
Feliciani conceded that the lack of content was a constant headache for E-Cinema. But he said live sporting or musical events offer theater owners the chance of filling otherwise empty seats at their establishments, and this is a market that exists immediately. The E-Screen project, he said, will be followed by a year-long ESA study on high-definition broadcast technical standards.
Von Sychowsky said the major Hollywood studios are expected to settle on a technical standard in 2004, a development that should lead to bulk purchases of digital projectors and thus bring down their prices.
Meanwhile, the U.K. Film Council has agreed to invest 12 million British pounds ($18.9 million) to equip some 250 cinema screens across Britain with high-definition projectors, von Sychowsky said. In the early going, this project will rely on physical transport of the digital content and will not use satellites. The Chinese government also is promoting digital cinema and has contracted with Alpha Spacecom of Hong Kong for satellite capacity to distribute the films. The Norwegian government is moving in this direction as well, von Sychowsky said.
With satellite-transmission costs coming down, Buckle said that UCI does not view the satellite link as a barrier to development. He said UCI books satellite time for its standard-definition cinema events for about $1,600 per two-hour film transmission. As is always the case with satellite multicasting, the distribution cost does not increase no matter how many theaters are served.
Buckle said a high-definition film might take about 20 hours to distribute, and cost around $7,000, including possible resending of segments not fully downloaded at the theater’s server. "And of course, that cost delivers to an unlimited number of venues," he said.
