Whitman to host lecture on movie channels, marketing

Whitman to host lecture on movie channels, marketingOctober 08, 2007Amy Schmitzaemehrin@syr.edu

Movie making is more than just lights, camera, action. It’s also a business, with complex channel contracts specifying the split of box office revenues between distributors (i.e. studios) and exhibitors (i.e. theaters). However, do these complex relationships add to or detract from profitability?

This question and others will be explored by Eunkyu Lee, associate professor of marketing in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Lee will speak about “How Complex Do Movie Channel Contracts Need to Be?” Wednesday, Oct. 17, at noon in Room 525 of the Whitman School building. The lecture, which is part of the Whitman Colloquium lecture series, is free and open to SU students, faculty and staff.

Using a game theoretic model, Lee will examine whether much simpler contracts such as 50/50 split or two-part tariff can be acceptable or superior alternatives to the more complex contract structure currently in use in the industry. He will also discuss how contract structure impacts the exhibitor’s movie scheduling behavior and the individual firms’ profitability.

Lee holds a Ph.D. from Duke University. His research has been published in Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing Research, and Quantitative Marketing and Economics, among other journals.

For additional information, or to R.S.VP. for the colloquium, contact Shannon Hiemstra, Whitman School of Management, at (315) 443-3549 or srhiemst@syr.edu.