LOS ANGELES — Miramax Films has signed a digital
distribution agreement with online video distributor Hulu, as part of an
ongoing effort to generate more revenue from its 700-title movie
library.
Subscribers to Hulu’s premium service Hulu Plus,
which costs $7.99 per month, will get access to hundreds of Miramax
titles that will be added over the next few months, with 27 available to
stream starting Wednesday including “Pulp Fiction.” The offering is
very similar to one made in a deal announced last month that put Miramax
movies on Netflix’s Internet streaming service.
Hulu will also make about 15 Miramax films available
each month for free on the advertising-supported section of its website
beginning later this month, the first online platform to do so. That
marks the first time that Miramax movies have been available to watch
free online — legally, that is.
Hulu has been looking to boost the number of movies
on Hulu Plus in a bid to better compete with Netflix, Amazon.com and
other digital distributors. Currently, Hulu Plus only has several
hundred independently produced films, including classics from the
Criterion Collection. It does not offer any recently made movies from
big Hollywood studios as Netflix does, though its collection of
television shows is bigger.
Miramax, meanwhile, is pursuing a range of
non-exclusive digital distribution deals in order to generate as much
revenue as possible from the 700-plus title library that a consortium of
investors led by Colony Capital and construction magnate Ron Tutor
acquired from Walt Disney Co. in December for $663 million.
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