With the South Korean home entertainment industry stagnating at its lowest levels due largely to Internet and street piracy of DVD's, it comes as no surprise that another major Hollywood video distribution branch has decided to shutter its operations in Korea.  Twentieth Century Fox will allow Korean video distributor Bitwin to take over releasing of its studio's titles in the local market.

The move follows Paramount's withdrawal of its home entertainment outlet in June, handing over the reins of its studio releases to local CJ Entertainment, and Universal in April, in a pact with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Warner Bros., in an effort to curb the internet piracy problem, made a deal with broadcaster MBC to sell legal downloads of its films earlier this year.

In the theatrical market, Paramount Pictures announced that CJ Ent. will become the exclusive distributor of its films in South Korea, following a decision by Universal to shutter its branch of United International Pictures (UIP) on Dec. 31st.  Paramount films are being distributed through UIP, but CJ Ent. will take over February 1st, 2007.  UIP's own films will be handled by Universal from January.

Korean giant CJ Ent. has 10 years experience in distribution, financing and production and is currently the leading distributor of feature films in the Korean market.  It is also a founding investor in DreamWorks and holds exclusive rights to DreamWorks films in Korea.

Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)