A. Overview - Distributors

• The distributor section can record past and present distributors, in all media and territories. However, the absence of a distributor for a given combination does not necessarily mean there was none; we may simply lack the relevant data.
• The company name should always include the country code in square brackets after the company name - e.g., Company [us].
• We do not remove a distributor when it loses the right to distribute a title; rather, we modify the year range to reflect the end of distribution rights.

• Companies should no longer have separate IMDb pages for each region they have distribution or sales credits in. If a certain company has distribution or sales credits in more than one region, then those credits should all appear on a single page.




Cases in which there should be more than one separate company pages:


• When two companies are completely different companies and are not affiliated in any way.
• When two companies are different but affiliated companies. For example, Lionsgate [US] (registered as Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.), is an American entertainment company, currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California. There is a different company called Lionsgate UK [GB], (formerly Redbus Film Distribution, and briefly known as Helkon SK between 2001 and 2003), which is a British subsidiary of Lionsgate [US].



Cases in which there should be only a single company page:


• When there is more than one page for the same company. This includes when a company has multiple pages that simply represent the fact that the same company once distributed or sold in that region. For example, Lionsgate [US] distributed A Simple Favor (2018) in Ireland, so this credit should be listed on Lionsgate [US] and not a separate page called Lionsgate [IE].
• The "attribute" section includes standard areas for the region, year or year range, and media/venue which must be completed. For TV Series we prefer that the attributes (original broadcast) and (rerun) are used to distinguish between the network/station which first airs a show and those which subsequently broadcast it. A network/station without either of these attributes will be assumed to be the original broadcast. To help distinguish between reruns, please provide year ranges where known, and any further supporting information, eg (Season 1), should it apply.
• The "order" field can be used when more than one distributor is listed, to control the order in which they are listed; the first one to appear on a given title should be 1, then 2, etc.
• Video On Demand services such as Prime Video or Netflix should be credited with the country specific subsidiary, the region, the year of release, the type 'video' and the attribute 'VOD'.
  e.g. For Alpha House (2013) we have
  Prime Video [US] - United States - 2013 - Video - VOD (as Amazon Video)
  Amazon Prime Video [GB] - United Kingdom - 2014 - Video - VOD
• Catch up streaming services such as USA Now or BBC iPlayer would come under the main production company for the channel (i.e. USA Network [us] and BBC [gb] respectively). The country in the attribute should be specific to the region in which the content is available.
• For online releases (on platforms such as YouTube) the attribute should contain the year of release, the location 'worldwide', the type 'video' and the word 'internet' in the free text box.

B. What is a distributor?

For our purposes, the following are classified as distributors:



• The TV station/network that first airs a program in a particular country. These should be distinguished with the (original broadcast) attribute.
• We?re now accepting TV station/networks which have aired a program acquired from a syndicator. These should be distinguished with the (rerun) attribute.
• syndicator that distributes a program to TV stations.
• A company that distributes a film to theaters.
• A company that distributes a video to a broad range of retailers.
• A web site that is a primary host of an eligible Internet title.
• A company that has purchased legal distribution rights to a title.

C. What is not a distributor?

The following are not classified as distributors (and generally should not be listed at all in the database):



• A retailer that does not provide the title to a significant number of other retailers.
• A packager of a public domain title.
• A festival screening, i.e. a title merely as part of the festival (the festival name should appear as a release date attribute). However, it can be listed as a distributor if it creates a "best of" DVD or similar post-festival distribution.
• We formerly listed sales agents in this list, but they should now be added to the sales representatives list.