Rank, the leading European gaming business, has decided to focus on the operation of bingo clubs and casinos in the United Kingdom and to dispose of all non-core activities. After selling the Hard Rock Cafe earlier this month, Rank is now exiting the DVD manufacturing business for Hollywood studios. Deluxe Media Services LLC, Rank's United States subsidiary, which has announced the closure of its North Little Rock, Ark., facility in September, has now sold the entire DVD manufacturing and distribution operation to Optical Disc Service (ODS) Inc.
The North Little Rock DVD facility is one of the largest DVD manufacturing and distribution operations in the U.S. with 22 DVD replication lines, mastering, printing and packaging in a 712,000-square-foot building. This gives the North Little Rock facility a manufacturing and packaging capacity of well over 150 million DVDs per year and distribution capacity exceeding 1 million units per day.
ODS Business Services, Germany, is the leading manufacturer and distributor of CDs and DVDs in Europe with a daily output of over 3 million discs. ODS has recently won a 4.5-year contract for the exclusive pan European manufacturing and distribution of DVDs for Universal Pictures International Entertainment, the international home entertainment division of Universal Pictures. ODS has operations all over Europe, from Sweden to Romania and Portugal and offers complete supply chain services for DVDs for 14 European countries out of seven distribution centers. Full service distribution includes physical distribution of DVDs to retailers and rental, order handling and customer service as well as credit control and collection.
As part of the asset deal ODS has acquired the DVD manufacturing licenses issued by MPEG-LA and 6C/Toshiba. After litigation with MPEG-LA in Europe about the validity of patents and the size of royalty payments, the ODS Group's manufacturing operations in the U.S., the U.K. and in Germany have now agreed to be MPEG-LA and 6C/Toshiba licensees for their entire DVD production.
ODS aims to retain the complete management of the DVD manufacturing and distribution operation in North Little Rock as an independent supplier to the DVD industry, with a focus on full service, distribution and special packaging.
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