Eat Cinema signs up Metro as sponsor

Eat Cinema, the film industry-funded digital TV channel, has signed the commuters’ freesheet Metro as its first sponsor since laun- ching in February.

Eat Cinema, the film industry-funded digital TV channel, has signed the commuters’ freesheet Metro as its first sponsor since launching in February.

The three-month deal, which begins later this month, will see Eat Cinema provide film clips and celebrity interviews for the Metro Life section of the newspaper’s website www.metro.co.uk.

Eat Cinema will also feature promotions for Metro on its TV channel. The Metro website will feature co-branded banner advertising and the newspaper will run a series of ads and competitions promoting the channel.

The channel is a joint venture between digital TV provider etv and All Industry Marketing (AIM), the UK film and cinema co- alition established in 1984 to promote cinema-going. The trade body’s members include Bafta, the UK Film Council and Carlton Screen Advertising.

Etv sales director Damon Letzer says the partnership with the Associated Newspapers-owned Metro taps into Eat Cinema’s desire to align with the freesheet’s au- dience – people, he says, who want to make the most of their leisure time.

Eat Cinema is aimed at a mainstream audience and features movie news, previews, on-location specials and competitions to win tickets to film premieres. It also offers up-to-date information on cinema releases through an interactive service, a video-rich, interactive website and a mobile WAP site.