How May I Direct Your Call...er, Movie Fix?
JPMorgan stepped up with a $50 million credit facility for subsidiaries of IDT Entertainment, New Arc Entertainment and Anchor Bay (see Variety). New Arc produces "live action feature films and animated movies in the supernatural/thriller/action genre" Anchor Bay is one of the few large independent DVD distributors -- it partnered with Carsey Werner for Roseanne.
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It's a clear move to strengthen the financing capabilities of these entertainment units of...a telephone company. If they had wires in the ground, it would be even smarter as a way of priming the pipes for content delivery. [Ed. Note: After some digging around, this entertainment conglomerate is working hard to build a well-rounded group of content creation and distribution companies. With quarterly telecom revenue of $540 million and forecasted annual entertainment revenue of $200 million, it's not a bad way for a non-media company to build alternative investment vehicles. Let's keep an eye on these guys.]
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