Starz, Fox in major multi-year film licensing deal

Starz has secured a massive multi-year deal for hundreds of movies from Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution’s library.

The agreement is billed as “the largest ever between the two companies,” with about 40% never seen before on the US premium cable channel.

Films including Ice Age, X-Men and There’s Something About Mary will run on Starz, sister channel Encore and online services Starz Play and Encore Play following the deal.

“This agreement with Fox will fortify our pipeline of popular theatrical library content through the end of the decade and is a great complement to our exclusive originals, first-run movies, and other popular movie fare,” said Michael Thornton, executive VP, acquisitions, business and legal affairs.

Starz and Fox have a separate output deal for newer releases.

Last year, Starz chose not to renew its library deal with Disney but did score a huge deal, worth an estimated US$2 billion, with Sony Pictures earlier this year.