UK government won't bail out digital cinema stragglers

June 19, 2008

Source: Screen Daily

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The UK government will not bail out cinemas left behind in the switch to digital cinema, Stewart Till, chairman of the UK Film Council has warned.

Speaking at Screen International's annual digital cinema summit, Till said public money could not and would not pay for the installation of digital equipment at cinemas which could not afford to make the switch.

"There's a slight sense that the public sector will come galloping to the rescue. In part that might be because we made a start with capital expenditure (the digital screen network)," he told delegates to the event at Vue Cinema in London's West End.

"So I'm sure there's people thinking that if they got it going then they're bound to mop up the people who can't afford it.

"I can categorically tell you now that that's not the case. We have no money for more digitalisation and that's the same for the rest of Europe," he said.

The issue of the numbers left behind in the change is a growing issue that is beginning to attract serious attention in the UK and beyond.

Also speaking at the conference, the UK Film Council's head of distribution and exhibition Peter Buckingham warned that a significant number of exhibitors would not be able to make the current financial arrangements for d-cinema installation work for them and were in danger of going out of business.

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