Big Entertainment Inc. signed a definitive agreement to
acquire the assets of CinemaSource Inc., described as the
nation’s largest provider of movie showtime listings to the Internet industry.
The deal involves 436,191 shares of Big Entertainment common stock and $6.5
million in cash. The stock closed last at $12 7/16, up 5/16.
Internet portals and Web sites that obtain their movie showtime listings from
CinemaSource include Yahoo!, MSN, Excite, Go Network, CitySearch, and Zip2,
among others.
The movie showtime listings data that CinemaSource provides will be an
integral part of the online movie ticketing service to be offered by
Hollywood Online, operator of hollywood.com, the online movie
information Web site that BigE has contracted to acquire from Times Mirror
Co.
“The acquisition of CinemaSource in combination with BigE’s earlier announced
acquisition of hollywood.com as well as the bige.com studio store, is designed to create
the premier online site for movie information, online movie ticketing and
movie merchandise,” said Mitchell Rubenstein, chairman and CEO of BigE. “In
addition, this acquisition means that not only will BigE be the provider of
premier movie information on the Web via hollywood.com, but also will be the
No. 1 provider of movie showtime listings information to the Internet
industry.”
Big Entertainment was founded by Rubenstein and Laurie Silvers, who earlier
in their careers founded the Sci-Fi Channel. BigE owns bige.com, an
e-commerce studio store offering thousands of entertainment products from
Hollywood studios and popular culture.