Re Joint Venture
17 12월 2003 - 4:00PM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:3444T
Home Entertainment Corporation PLC
17 December 2003
Home Entertainment establishes
online DVD rental venture with Book Club Associates
WEDNESDAY, 17 December 2003 -- Home Entertainment Corporation PLC ("HEC") and
BCA, part of DirectGroup Bertelsmann, announce that they have established a
co-operative venture to exploit the opportunity for the rental of DVDs via the
Internet.
The new venture will operate under the name of ChoicesErental (
www.choicesErental.com ), the online DVD rental
business launched by HEC in October 2003.
BCA, through its established Book Clubs with a total of approximately 2 million
customers, has extensive knowledge and experience of direct response marketing
and a stated objective to advance its expertise in serving individual customer
interests.
HEC, a leading UK retailer and distributor of DVDs, VHS, computer games and
mobile phones, has a major involvement in the DVD market through Video Box
Office (supplying third parties), Choices (HEC's own chain of 212 stores) and
Choices Direct (Internet, direct mail and fulfilment operation). Last year,
revenues at Choices Direct rose by 29.4%, making it the fastest growing part of
the HEC group which serves a total of approximately 2.2 million consumers.
Christian Friege, Chief Executive Officer of BCA said:
"I am delighted BCA is co-operating with Home Entertainment through this venture
which brings together the complementary strengths of two acknowledged leaders in
their respective fields. Both companies believe that there is a significant
opportunity to expand the UK market through rental of DVDs via the Internet. We
now have access to Home Entertainment's expertise in this area, enabling us to
broaden our product offering."
Iain Muspratt, Chairman of HEC, said:
"This is a very exciting development for Home Entertainment as it expands our
direct customer base from which we can generate new revenue streams for our
rental products. We look forward to maximising the future opportunity now
presented to us".
ENDS
About HEC
HEC was founded in 1985 and has grown to be one of the largest rentailers in the
United Kingdom through its main trading divisions. The Company has been quoted
on AIM since October 2001.
About BCA
BCA is the UK's leading book club company. It has over 35 years' experience in
the Club business, and now operates over 20 separate book clubs, with more than
2 million members. Each club has its own magazine, as well as its website
featuring the latest books and releases in addition to special offers and
competitions. For further information, please visit www.booksdirect.co.uk
About DirectGroup Bertelsmann
DirectGroup Bertelsmann integrates Bertelsmann's global media direct-to-customer
businesses. Roughly 35 million customer relationships secure DirectGroup's
position among the largest enterprises in media commerce. Cornerstone of this
success are the book and music clubs in 20 countries incorporating strong brands
like France Loisirs (France), Book-of-the-Month-Club (USA), BCA (UK), Der Club
(Germany), or BeMusic (USA). DirectGroup Bertelsmann is a division of
German-based Bertelsmann AG. In fiscal 2002 DirectGroup made EUR 2.7 billion in
revenues with more than 12,000 employees worldwide.
For further information contact:
Book Club Associates (Christian Friege, Chief Executive Officer)
Tel: 020 7760 6688
Home Entertainment Corporation (Iain Muspratt, Chairman)
Tel: 01733 363099
Bankside Consultants (Simon Bloomfield)
Tel: 020 7444 4177
Mobile: 07771 7585177
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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