Zoo digital signs up second 'big name' in a week

The Sheffield firm said this latest deal will speed up the distribution and accuracy of the Hollywood studio's worldwide releases.

Zoo chief executive Stuart Green said: "We're particularly excited about working with another of the major brands in entertainment and providing a very broad solution that spans most of its formats."

He added that the adoption by one of Hollywood's largest studios, which cannot be named for contractual reasons, represents "a very significant development" for the group.

In the past, clients have licensed specific products, but this new customer intends to use Zoo's software across its entire home entertainment business.

"Everyone is trying to standardise methods of managing content across multiple media and languages," said Mr Green.

"We're at the forefront in this area and are now working with some of the biggest names in entertainment to establish these standards, which we believe will be very widely adopted."

Last week Zoo said a major Hollywood movie-maker had adopted its new authoring software for the Blu-ray Disc format.

Zoo's software allows entertainment products to be created more efficiently for multiple languages and countries.

The first Hollywood studio client has adopted the software to create Blu-ray titles for recent and catalogue films for release in international territories.

Mr Green said: "The major studios are continually looking for ways to make the release of a product more efficient and cost effective, and we're delighted that our approach to these issues is continuing to resonate and gain traction.

"Most of our solutions provide an alternative way of looking at an established problem, and our Blu-ray software is a good example of this. We're delighted to be entering this exciting marketplace."

Blu-ray, the next generation optical disc format for high definition video, is growing rapidly, with consumer sales up 94 per cent year-on-year.

Zoo said its products are being used increasingly to centralise studio functions and drive efficiencies with each new product providing recurring revenue potential from existing and new customers.

Zoo plans to publish its preliminary results for the year to March 31 on Monday June 28.