SPI brings premium titles to US with Struum
May 26, 2021
SPI/FilmBox, which owns and operates multiple linear channels and digital services across the globe, has teamed up with Struum, the new breed of streaming service created by senior-level Disney and Discovery executives, and backed by a multi-million-dollar investment from former Disney CEO Michael Eisner through his Tornante Company. The deal will initially render 280 premium titles spanning blockbusters, evergreen content and award-winning world cinema movies from SPI’s extensive catalogue available to the subscribers of Struum under the FilmBox branded corner.
“Viewing habits have shifted towards digital with audiences finding it increasingly more difficult to discover new content among countless options. At SPI, we are committed to covering the world with premium entertainment through partnerships with innovative platforms such as Struum to make the discovery of quality content easier for viewers,” commented Loni Farhi, President at SPI International.
Highlights from the deal include: Padre (2016), a touching drama starring Willem Dafoe and Giada Colagrande, where Giulia who is mourning the death of her father, is contacted by him from the other dimension; the critically-acclaimed drama Arima (2019), written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda and the award-winning Canadian drama Gregoire (2017), which tells the story of four young adults as they struggle to deal with the consequences of their actions and how it affects their friends and families.
“I am looking forward to the cooperation with Struum in the US now and other territories in the future, as I believe that two very dynamic companies like Struum, SVOD start up with its innovative approach to B2C content distribution, and SPI with its innovative way of B2B content aggregation from around the world is the recipe for success. We are delighted to partner with the great team behind Struum and to be a part of the dynamic growth of the platform where SPI provides great family movies, documentaries, unique selection of arthouse masterpieces and more under the FilmBox branded corner,” added Hubert Ornass-Kubacki, Head of Content Sales at SPI International.
Struum’s mission is to streamline streaming by providing viewers one central destination and a single subscription to access a huge array of programming that serves their interests from across the increasingly cluttered global streaming landscape. The platform’s first-of-its kind credit-based subscription model offers the most cost-effective and efficient way for people to sample and discover programming as they spend their monthly credits to unlock only the films and TV episodes they want to watch from dozens of participating services and content partners—without the hassle of navigating and paying for multiple subscription video services. As viewers continue to use the platform, Struum is also able to provide new programming suggestions from across all of its content partners based on viewing habits so they can easily find new content they might enjoy watching.
The platform is available via iOS, web, Airplay and Chromecast and will be followed by a full rollout of the app later this summer across more platforms including AppleTV, Android TV, Android, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku.
Lauren Devillier, Co-Founder and CEO of Struum, said, “Our goal with Struum is to help viewers uncover many different genres of content seamlessly and in a cost-effective manner. SPI/FilmBox has an excellent collection that we’re very much looking forward to introducing to U.S. based viewers for the first time. We are thrilled to have them on the Struum platform.”