Cosmo DeNicola Companies News


Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Acquisition of 1091 Pictures Completed by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment

COS COB, CT – Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE) (“the Company”), one of the largest operators of streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand (“AVOD”) networks, today announced the closing of the previously announced acquisition of the assets of 1091 Media, LLC comprising its distribution business known as “1091 Pictures”. The purchase price was approximately $15.6 million in cash, Series A perpetual preferred stock and Class A common stock.

 

Salem Partners acted as the exclusive financial and investment banking advisor to 1091 Pictures, with Stephen Prough and Ivar Combrinck leading the process and negotiations. Lisa Weiss from Chatillon Weiss acted as exclusive legal advisor to 1091 Pictures. Brian Ross from Graubard Miller acted as exclusive legal advisor to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.

 

 

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Definitive Agreement to Acquire 1091 Pictures Signed by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment

1091 Pictures Has Distribution Rights to Approximately 4,000 Movies and Television Series, Nearly Doubling Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment’s Content Catalogue

 More Than 350 Titles Slated for 2022

 Acquisition of FAST and AVOD Streaming Channels with Approximately 1 Billion Yearly Ad Impressions

 

COS COB, CT –Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE) (“the Company”), one of the largest operators of streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand (“AVOD”) networks, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of 1091 Media, LLC comprising its distribution business known as “1091 Pictures”. The purchase price is approximately $15.6 million in cash, Series A perpetual preferred stock and Class A common stock.

 

Acquiring 1091 Pictures accelerates Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment’s strategy to build the leading independent AVOD streaming service by approximately doubling the size of the Company’s content catalogue. 1091 Pictures’ diverse library of approximately 4,000 movies and TV series includes New York Times Critic’s Picks such as The Ghost of Peter Sellers and Grammy-Award Winner Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, riveting sports stories such as A Kid from Coney Island executive produced by Kevin Durant and featuring Stephon Marbury, Red Bull’s The Dawn Wall, audience favorites such as The Last Blockbuster and Pharma Bro, groundbreaking documentaries such as Close Encounters of The Fifth Kind and The Phenomenon, which reveal the latest intelligence on UFOs, and indie film hits such as Academy Award Winner Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Spirit Awards-winner Christine, and the knockout comedy The Overnight starring Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling and Jason Schwartzman. The acquisition also comes with established FAST and AVOD channels in specific verticals, with approximately 1 billion yearly ad impressions.

 

“The 1091 Pictures team transformed their large content library into a scalable, modern distribution platform with a compelling slate of channels that are a pragmatic addition to our existing assets,” said David Fannon, president of Screen Media Ventures, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment company and the supplier of content to the Crackle Plus streaming services. “There are great synergies between our two companies. Over time, joining 1091 Pictures’ acquisition and distribution team with Screen Media’s team, leveraging the impressive infrastructure 1091 Pictures built for digital fulfillment, and folding the 1091 Pictures-owned channel business into the Crackle Plus networks will make this a mutually beneficial and smooth transition. The 1091 Pictures’ pipeline of over 350 titles per year will provide a steady supply of new content to the company for years to come.”

 

“This is the next evolution in our content library strategy,” said Elana Sofko, chief strategy officer for Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. “The genre content with loyal fan bases from 1091 Pictures includes music, over a dozen different sports, paranormal, and much more, enabling us to continue to grow both our streaming services and our FAST channels. We will also continue growing the business that the 1091 Pictures team started and augment it with additional opportunities from the combined catalogue.”

 

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with the Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and Screen Media team,” said Eric Min, general manager and head of content for 1091 Pictures. “We are bullish that the scale and reach of the combined teams starts us on an exciting journey to be able to further capitalize on this strong amalgamation of assets.”

 

The company expects to recognize in excess of $10 million of revenue with approximately $3 million of incremental EBITDA in the next 12 months as a result of the transaction. The purchase price of $15,550,000 is comprised of $8 million in cash, $2 million in the form of newly issued shares of the Company’s Series A perpetual preferred stock (Nasdaq: CSSEP) valued at $25 per share, and 375,000 shares of Class A common stock (Nasdaq: CSSE) valued at $14.80 per share.

 

The acquisition is subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions and is expected to close in early to mid-March 2022. Salem Partners acted as the exclusive financial and investment banking advisor to 1091 Pictures, with Ivar Combrinck leading the process and negotiations. Lisa Weiss from Chatillon Weiss acted as exclusive legal advisor to 1091 Pictures. Brian Ross from Graubard Miller acted as exclusive legal advisor to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Content-Rich Streaming Service Chicken Soup for the Soul to Feature Thousands of Hours of Television and Movies

New Streaming Service to Feature Exclusive Programming from Kin Community, Reel One, Chicken Soup for the Soul Originals, and the Sonar Library

 

COS COB, CT – Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE), one of the largest operators of streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) networks, today announced that its free ad-supported Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service AVOD will launch shortly with thousands of hours of family-friendly movies and television series including, feel-good movies, food, home and travel series, lifestyle and parenting shows. Hundreds of hours of exclusive content will be from Kin Community, Reel One, the Sonar library, and Chicken Soup for the Soul Originals. The Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service is currently available as a FAST channel on Plex, FreeCast, Redbox, LG Channels, Stirr, XUMO, VIZIO’s free streaming service, WatchFree+, with the VOD launch of the service coming soon.

 

“When planning the launch of the Chicken Soup for the Soul AVOD streaming service, we set the bar very high,” said Jeff Meier, head of programming for Crackle Plus. “We exceeded our own expectations and are launching with a substantial amount of high-quality content with well-known stars and TV personalities that we believe will be the perfect fit for our audience.”

 

One of the new original series launches from Kin Community will be Comfort Kitchen hosted by Tia Mowry (Sister, Sister and Family Reunion) who will take viewers into her kitchen, teaching them to make all her favorite home-cooked recipes, with celebrity guests pitching in to chop, stir, and taste. New episodes of this series will premiere on the streaming service. Kin Community, a leader in celebrity-driven lifestyle programming, will also be providing hundreds of hours of lifestyle content on an AVOD exclusive basis such as All Things Adrienne with Adrienne Houghton (The Cheetah Girls, The Masked Singer), Hello Hunnay with Jeannie May (The Real), Side By Side with Malika (Sky High, ATL) and Khadijah (Sky High, Happy Feet), as well as many others.

 

“Tia Mowry's Comfort Kitchen is the perfect series to launch Kin's partnership with Chicken Soup for the Soul," said Michael Wayne, chief executive officer of Kin Community. "The combination of a world-class talent like Tia and Kin's premium lifestyle programming will help build meaningful audiences for Chicken Soup's new AVOD offering.”

 

On the scripted front, Chicken Soup for the Soul will feature original movies from Reel One Entertainment, a global production company that specializes in scripted dramatic content enjoyed by millions of viewers worldwide. These original titles will be premiering one per month and will be the first of a series of additional original scripted shows to be announced. Titles from Reel One Entertainment will include For the Love of Chocolate, Love Afloat, A Priceless Love, A Slice of Chicago Romance, Love for Starters, A Bouquet of Love, Love Map, A Snapshot of Forever, Love Amongst the Stars, The Beauty of Love, Love at the Ranch, and Love in Full Swing.

 

“The team from Reel One is enthusiastic to be working with the Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service,” said Tom Berry, chief executive officer of Reel One Entertainment. “Their vibrantly loyal audience is a perfect fit for the fun and romantic themes our titles will represent as original content on their network. We’re so excited to play a part in the historic launch of this entertainment destination.”

 

Classic series and movies from the Sonar library such as Mothers and Daughters (Susan Sarandon, Sharon Stone, Courteney Cox, Christina Ricci, Selma Blair, Mira Sorvino), Morning Glory (Christopher Reeve, Deborah Raffin), My Boyfriend’s Back (Sandy Duncan, Jill Eikenberry, Judith Light), and more will be available on the streaming service. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment acquired the Sonar library in April of 2021 and brought over 1400 hours of content composed of over 600 titles with 268 Emmy and 16 Golden Globe wins.

 

Chicken Soup for the Soul will bring home to its own streaming service Chicken Soup for the Soul Originals such as Hidden Heroes, Animal Tales, The New Americans, Project Dad, and Going From Broke executive produced with Ashton Kutcher. Premiering on AVOD on the streaming service will be the newest Chicken Soup for the Soul Original Smart Home Nation, produced by Efran Films in association with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and Parkside Entertainment, and hosted by Tanya Memme,

 

“The programming coming from Kin, Reel One and our Sonar library are great examples of the type of content fans can expect to see on Chicken Soup for the Soul’s streaming service,” said Philippe Guelton, president of Crackle Plus. “We’ve already started introducing the brand as a FAST channel and we’re launching a branded Chicken Soup “tray” on Crackle, to give fans easy access to the content as it rolls out wide with additional partners over the next few months.”

 

The Crackle Plus streaming services are currently distributed through 60 touch points in the U.S. on platforms including Amazon FireTV, RokuTV, Apple TV, Smart TVs (Samsung, LG, VIZIO), gaming consoles (PS4 and Xbox One), Plex, iOS and Android mobile devices and on desktops at Crackle.com, with previously announced plans to expand to over 80 touch points. Crackle is also available in approximately 500,000 hotel rooms in the Marriott Bonvoy chain.

 

Monday, January 3, 2022

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Increases Share Repurchase Authorization to $20 Million

Board Authorizes Additional $10 Million in Common Stock Repurchases in Addition to Previously Announced $10 Million Plan 

 COS COB, CT – Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE), one of the largest operators of streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand (“AVOD”) networks, today announced that its board of directors approved of a $10 million increase in its common stock repurchase program, to a total of $20 million. 

 The initial $10 million authorization was approved in November 2021. As of December 17, 2021, the Company had repurchased 675,365 shares for approximately $9.8 million. The Company anticipates that any potential additional repurchase activity would be conducted opportunistically, in open-market transactions. 

 “Today’s increased authorization by the Board of Directors reflects confidence in the execution of our business plan, including the significant growth and expansion achieved in 2021. We are positioned to create significant shareholder value as we pursue our objective of building the best AVOD in a thriving streaming industry,” said Chris Mitchell, chief financial officer for Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. 

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Amtech Networks with Leading Latin American Packaging Companies

AICC, The Independent Packaging Association presented the AICC 2021 Mexico Meeting and 20thAnniversary celebration on November 17-19 in Monterrey, Mexico! Juan Javier Gonzalez, CEO of Cartro S.A.P.I.de C.V. in Mexico City and President of AICC Mexico encouraged the packaging manufacturers in attendance. The meeting featured “The Packaging X-perience”, a series of forums about the best practices of packaging, leading industry speakers, networking, social events and more. “I was able to meet with many companies a various sizes that were very enthused about our products”, stated Ricardo Martinez.

 

AICC diligently organized the in-person meeting in Monterrey. They worked closely with the hotel to ensure a safe environment for all members who attended the meeting. They followed the latest guidelines of social distancing, mask wearing and regular sanitation among other safety protocols. The hotel Camino Real has been recognized as a safe travel hotel by World Travel & Tourism Council.

 

The host city for the AICC 2021 Mexico Meeting is the beautiful and modern city of Monterrey. Monterrey is the third largest city in Mexico and the capital of the state of Nueco Leon. It is the commercial, industrial, educational, and transportation hub of northern Mexico, also it is third city in economic importance in Mexico.

 

The Meeting was held at the Camino Real Monterrey, located in Valle Oriente, one of the most exclusive areas in Monterrey.

 

 

Monday, December 13, 2021

Amtech Announces Subscription Pricing Options

Fort Washington, PA - Amtech announces subscription pricing for their ScoreKeeper Production Monitoring Solution. ScoreKeeper combines digital signage, real-time business intelligence, and reliable production monitoring into a powerful platform providing production management and operators with the data they need to increase efficiency and improve crew motivation.

“Subscription pricing allows our customers to convert what would normally be a capital expense into an operating expense, which can be friendlier to cash flow,” states Michael DeNicola, Director of Customer Engagement. He continues, “ScoreKeeper has been widely implemented by both Amtech and non-Amtech users across North America, Europe, and Latin America. Seamless integration into any system combined with immediate, meaningful data is making a difference. We have customers who are experiencing upwards of 30% increase in efficiency in as little as thirty days after implementation.”

To learn more about the Power of ScoreKeeper please email: mdenicola@amtechsoftware.com.

 

Monday, December 13, 2021

Futura Continues Cyber Security Hardening Rollout

Fort Washington, PA – December 8, 2021 - In an effort to make sure that our internal and customer facing cyber protection keeps up with external Bad Forces Futura Services initiated multiple projects to reduce vulnerabilities.

 Network and server vulnerability can be found everywhere, putting data, processes, and companies at risk. Our project included the review and the activities to combat Cyber Security focusing on the following security areas:

  • Applications/databases/OS
  • Servers
  • Networks

 Initiatives and actions Included:

  •  
  • Deployed Carbon Black to Priority Servers and Endpoints 
  •  
  • Rolled out multi-factor authentication across critical access points and priority servers 
  • Upgraded firewall at HQ (515 Pennsylvania)
  •  
  • Upgraded Cloud Firewall at High Availability (hosting provider)
  •  
  • Forced password reset across admin, user, service and network accounts. Implemented complex password requirements
  •  
  • Conducted audit of Active Directory accounting for all legitimate and possible illegitimate accounts
  •  
  • Disabled elevated privileges on all admin accounts in non-critical roles
  •  
  • Changed and confirmed all financial, banking or critical account passwords
  •  
  • Enabled Windows Credential Guard
  •  
  • Completed Network Assessment and Vulnerability Scans 
  •  
  • Complete MFA roll-out at network login and lower priority servers
  •  
  • Complete Carbon Black deployment to all End Users and Lower Priority Servers
  •  
  • Confirm all insecure TLS versions are disabled throughout environment 

“Cyber Security is an ongoing project as threats become more sophisticated” stated, Dominic Sambucci Futura Services President.

 

 

Monday, December 13, 2021

Steinberg Sports & Entertainment Superbowl Party

Los Angeles, CA - Leigh Steinberg, Super-Agent and one of the most influential figures in professional sports, has brought together leaders in athletics, business, politics, tech, entertainment, & the non-profit world for his annual Super Bowl celebration this year (the 25th anniversary of the film “Jerry Maguire”) the Super Bowl is being held right in Leigh’s backyard & with over 2000 guests expected, the gathering is sure to be one for the ages!

Join us on the Sony Pictures Entertainment Studio Lot for a look behind the scenes at where some of the world’s greatest stories have been told. We will be honoring the stories of past, and with support for the non-profit organization the Lantern Network we are helping to write the stories of the future. Keeping to tradition, the event network will also shine a light on brain health and wellness as Cosmo DeNicola and Leigh honor heroes in the sports community at the Steinberg DeNicola Humanitarian Awards.

As one of the only premier events on Saturday afternoon of Super Bowl weekend, this celebration offers an exclusive opportunity for networking and the ability to make genuine connections with a very special guest list.

Monday, December 13, 2021

FBA Fall Board Meeting

Palm Beach, FL - November 10, 2021 – Amtech and Automation Presidents attended the FBA Fall Board of Directors Meeting. The event was held from November 8 -10 2021. It provided Board Members and C Level Executives from the Packaging Industry to share recent experiences and best practices.

The meeting was respectful of COVID considerations and enabled the guests to interact in meetings, seminars and social activities.

“I was so excited to have the opportunity to introduce myself and Automation products live to the group” stated first time participant Eric Nolan, Automation President.

Plans were made to schedule the FBA’s Annual Meeting April 10 – 12, 2022 at the Montage in Laguna Beach, CA.

Monday, December 13, 2021

Amtech’s PEO Insperity Offers Merit Scholarship Program

Fort Washington, PA - Announcing the 2023 Insperity Services, L.P. Scholarship Program for high school juniors who will be completing or leaving high school and entering college in the fall of 2023.

This scholarship program was established by Insperity Services, L.P. for the children of employees of Insperity Services, L.P. and designated subsidiaries. To enter your child into the 2023 Insperity Services, L.P. Scholarship Program (for students who will complete high school and enter college in 2023) use the link below.

We wish your child the best as he / she participates in the 2023 Insperity Services, L.P. Scholarship Program.

Contact Us

Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

Email: info@cosmodenicola.com

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