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Hannover House Positions MyFlix as the Next-Generation in Home-Streaming

Tuesday, 15 June 2021 02:25 PM

Hannover House, Inc.

FAYETTEVILLE, AR / ACCESSWIRE / June 15, 2021 / Independent film distributor Hannover House, Inc. (OTC:HHSE) believes that we are witnessing the fastest paradigm shift in the history of entertainment. The rapid rise among consumers preferring home-streaming to other delivery media represents one of the greatest growth opportunities ever for investors, said HHSE CEO Eric Parkinson.

"Consumer viewership of programming from direct-to-home-streaming is growing exponentially," said Parkinson. "The demand is not limited to top theatrical titles or high-profile series. Home viewing audiences are expanding the need across all major categories of programming, including independent, foreign and specialty films," he continued.

Yet, despite this growing demand for programming, most of the major streaming services continue to focus on what Parkinson describes as "low-hanging fruit."

"Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and HBO Max are focused primarily on current or recent theatrical hits or special event programming for their services," explained Parkinson. "This is a workable formula for many households. But it requires massive acquisition and production expenditures to maintain and still leaves the high-volume consumers without a large selection. We believe that there is as multi-billion-dollar business opportunity with the home viewing of independent and specialty titles, which is why we are so bullish on the launch of our MyFlix site."

The MyFlix business model that Parkinson is implementing has been described as a hybrid between Amazon Prime and Netflix. The service will have thousands of movies available on a "per-transaction" basis, such as with Amazon. MyFlix will also offer a monthly subscription option of unlimited views, much as the Netflix and SVOD business models.

But the key element that will differentiate MyFlix from other streaming services is what Parkinson calls the "Superstore" concept.

"As an avid movie-viewer, I completely understand the concept of ‘Netflix fatigue,' where consumers tire quickly of the limited selection, which often includes films they had previously seen at the theatres," said Parkinson. "The MyFlix programming model is unique in that we will be offering more than 15,000 titles from over 40 supplier studios, primarily the top indie film suppliers. These are titles that in many cases will be defacto exclusives for MyFlix, along with over 100 bona-fide exclusive titles and premiere offerings. It will be very difficult for a viewer to reach a ‘MyFlix' fatigue with this many titles," he continued.

Subscription pricing is not yet set, said Parkinson. But titles on a transactional basis will range from $1 to $3, except for special event or current theatrical titles. A temporary "place-holder" website has been published at www.MyFlix.com, but the functional site for consumer streaming will not launch until late summer.

"We are in a media-delivery revolution at the moment," said Parkinson. "Digital streaming is taking over how consumers receive their entertainment and information. We think that MyFlix can combine the best elements of many of the key services to become a prominent player as the one-stop entertainment Superstore."

Hannover House, Inc. will be implementing a stock offering to raise up to eight million dollars this summer, with 70% of the proceed to be used for the final development and initial launch costs for MyFlix. The company has been developing the site and APP for MyFlix over the past five years, including the mastering and on-boarding of the film and television titles from supplier partners, with primary funding provided via a non-affiliate, off-balance-sheet secured loan. The new funding that HHSE is seeking will retire the secured loan and enable the MyFlix site to be launched via an eight-tier marketing campaign.

"We feel like we are on the last mile of a five-year marathon and that the finish line is finally in site," said Parkinson. "We are raising money to help support the consumer launch of MyFlix so that we can reach a critical-mass of awareness quickly. We think a lot of buzz will be generated once we launch the actual site, from film aficionados and high-volume consumers. These market segments should deliver a solid kick-start to the MyFlix service. But we will need high-visibility ads, promotions and publicity to reach the largest of the audience groups, and this will require money."

"The changing marketplace was already evident before COVID," said Parkinson. "Many consumers now have huge flat screen TVs, surround sound audio and near-theatre quality screening set-ups. For many, going to the theatres was already limited to mega-budget event titles. But COVID made the transition happen more quickly. As for DVD and BluRay, these remain as significant product lines, but not at the level where a company like Hannover House would want to pursue it as a primary focus. The MyFlix streaming service is a natural step for us to pursue, and combining the best elements from a variety of services gives us a great advantage to grow into consumer favor," he concluded.

Although the company is holding many items for "exclusive" placement onto the MyFlix site, some of the titles from the company's catalog of prior releases will also continue to be promoted and placed onto other streaming services. Last week, Hannover House placed twenty-two titles with key TVOD (Transactional Video-On-Demand) and AVOD (Advertising-Video-On-Demand) sites, including Amazon and Tubi. Based on current revenues being generated on these services from comparable-stature titles, Hannover House conservatively forecasts 2021 revenues of approx. $400,000 from these new placements. Hannover House is also releasing seven new titles to the DVD or BluRay markets this year, reflecting a resurrection of consumer demand for physical discs, following a massive decline in DVD and BluRay sales over the past three years.

ABOUT HANNOVER HOUSE

Hannover House was originally formed in 1993 as Truman Press, Inc., a California corporation specializing in book publishing. Eric Parkinson purchased the company in 2002 and added DVD products to the company's offerings. By 2007, Hannover House, Inc. had grown into a top ten DVD supplier for Walmart Stores, Inc., with as many as seven-of-the-top-ten best-selling DVD titles in the Walmart Budget Bin at one time. The company began releasing films to theatres in 2008, including the Dakota Fanning drama "HOUNDDOG" and the Baseball coming-of-age drama, "WAR EAGLE ARKANSAS." In 2010, following the merger with Wyoming-domiciled Target Development Group, Inc., the company (publicly trading as of that merger), acquired and released the Joel Schumacher thriller "TWELVE" to over 225 theatres nationwide, with assistance from theatrical releasing guru Tom Ortenberg. Hannover House has since released over thirty films to theatres, supplementing the company's DVD product release history of more than 450 titles. As DVD sales began to decline in 2018, greater emphasis was placed on finding the best direct-to-home-streaming methodologies. The company devised a multi-studio concept called "Vodwiz," which was later rebranded under the commercially friendly name of "MyFlix." All development activity to date for MyFlix has been privately funded as an off-balance sheet activity under which Hannover House, Inc. has been engaged to develop, launch and manage the venture, with a purchase option contingent upon the satisfaction of nuisance lawsuits relating to the company's prior activities as a distributor-for-hire. Hannover House will be announcing new management and officers in June, 2021, as part of the company's rapid expansion of the MyFlix venture.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Parkinson, [email protected] / 818-481-5277

SOURCE: Hannover House, Inc.

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Company Update
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