RightsTrade Signs Deal With Lionsgate for TV Programming (EXCLUSIVE)

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Online licensing platform RightsTrade has signed an agreement with Lionsgate, enabling buyers to access more than 1,300 hours of television programming.

The content includes unscripted series and titles from its Hearst, Ignite, and Tribune libraries. Additionally, RightsTrade has promoted Jaime Otero to managing director to lead its expansion. Otero joined the company in 2014 and had previously been responsible for global sales and partnership growth, as VP of business development.

Lionsgate joins RightsTrade’s roster of content providers — which include Gaumont, Sonar Entertainment, and IndiaCast — giving buyers access to more than 10,000 hours of TV programming and 4,000 films. RightsTrade has 21,000 subscribers in 125 countries.

RightsTrade, which launched in 2015, touts itself as providing 24/7 access to executives in licensing in order to generate incremental sales.

“We’re excited to join RightsTrade, a unique sales platform that allows us to maximize the value of our content catalogue,” said Gene George, Lionsgate’s executive VP of worldwide distribution. “Their service connects our deep archive of alternative programming and titles from our Hearst, Ignite, and Tribune libraries with thousands of potential distribution partners, and it enables them to discover Lionsgate content they might not have otherwise known was available.”

According to the company’s estimates, 70% of film and TV content rights in the industry remain unsold, and RightsTrade aims to help studios exploit these rights and identify opportunities that satisfy the underserved demand for content.

“We are thrilled to welcome leading Hollywood studio Lionsgate to our community, and to provide them with resources that support their goal of increasing sales of unexploited rights year-round, creating efficiencies across the licensing process, and facilitating the discovery of their content catalogue on our platform,” Otero said.

RightsTrade and Lionsgate made the announcement on Wednesday with a pair of major sales markets looming –TV mart Mipcom, which kicks off on Oct. 15, and the American Film Market, which starts on Oct. 31.