Ingram, Studios Sign Revenue-Share Deal
nment here has signed several major home-video content providers for its revenue-sharing program. Among the studios that will participate on a nonexclusive basis are Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video, Burbank, Calif.; Columbia TriStar Home Video, Culver City, Calif.; MGM/UA Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video, Santa Monica, Calif.; HBO Home Video, New York; New Line Home Video, Los Angeles; and Monarch Home Video, which is owned by Ingram and also based here.
Details about Ingram's revenue-sharing program are still being completed, said Vern Fross, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "We believe that we will have a package that will allow retailers to compete with the major chains by offering similar revenue-sharing arrangements."
Ingram's program will allow participating retailers to keep a minimum of 50% of rental-transaction revenues, said Fross. Ingram has licensed software from SuperComm, Dallas, a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary, to implement the program and track revenues electronically.
Ingram will continue to make studio promotions such as bonus-unit and buy-back programs available, along with the distributor's own programs. "Our motive for developing a revenue-sharing program is not to see how many units we can place through revenue sharing. Rather, we are trying to maximize the profit potential for our customers," said Fross. "As a distributor, we are only as strong as our customers."
Sight & Sound Sets Kid Vid Incentive
ST. LOUIS -- Sight & Sound Distributors here is offering free Nickelodeon Department Start-Up Kits to retailers taking advantage of special buy-in offers. Customers ordering any 20 Nickelodeon titles will receive "Angelica's Pick," which includes a color Rugrats Banner, assorted shelf-talkers, coloring sheets and crayons. Nickelodeon T-shirts and "Harriet the Spy" decoder pens will be included as prizes for a consumer contest.
Select Sight & Sound customers have also been offered a free 30-minute long-distance phone card and the chance to win one of three Motorola StarTac cellular phones with a minimum purchase of "Wag the Dog." (The StarTac phone is featured in the movie.)
