Both indieWIRE, which celebrated its 14th birthday July 15, and its parent company, two-year-old doc distributor SnagFilms, are growing exponentially. SnagFilms, which offers 1500 films for free streaming on its distribution network including Hulu and Fancast.com, is adding new outlets. Here’s a bit of Monday’s NYT story:
The plans include fee-based channels through Comcast and Verizon’s FiOS service, as well as deals to allow the sale or rental of films on iTunes, on YouTube’s premium program, and on the Apple iPad, SnagFilms executives said in interviews. A similar deal with Netflix has been in the works, but was not set as of late last week. An accompanying plan to distribute some films through mobile carriers — and the addition of Peter Bogdanovich and his new blogdanovich.com to IndieWIRE’s film-oriented Web sites — added heft to a company that has been assembled in the last two years around nonfiction movies and news about the often wobbly world of independent film.
IndieWIRE is adding mobile and iPad formats as well as the renewed Spout.com film community (with Chris Campbell returning to cover films like Inception on the Spoutblog) and an upcoming classic film blog from Bogdanovich to its expanding network.
And SnagFilms is launching its second SummerFest of on-demand free online offerings, from July 16 through September 2, which includes such must-see docs as Brit global warming call-to-action The Age of Stupid. Others are fest hits Shooting Robert King, about the war photographer, “soft power” doc Disco and Atomic War, Silvio Berlusconi expose Videocracy, and a portrait of a klezmer hip hop artist, The Socalled Movie. Mixed martial arts story A Fighting Chance will air on ESPN this fall.
[photo of indieWIRE’s Eugene Hernandez and Snagfilms’ Rick Allen and Stephanie Sharis courtesy NYT]
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