COS COB, Conn., Feb. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Inc. (“the Company”) (Nasdaq: CSSE), one of the largest operators of streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) networks, today announced that its free ad-supported Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service AVOD will launch shortly with thousands of hours of family-friendly movies and television series including, feel-good movies, food, home and travel series, lifestyle and parenting shows. Hundreds of hours of exclusive content will be from Kin Community, Reel One, the Sonar library, and Chicken Soup for the Soul Originals. The Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service is currently available as a FAST channel on Plex, FreeCast, Redbox, LG Channels, Stirr, XUMO, VIZIO’s free streaming service, WatchFree+, with the VOD launch of the service coming soon.
“When planning the launch of the Chicken Soup for the Soul AVOD streaming service, we set the bar very high,” said Jeff Meier, head of programming for Crackle Plus. “We exceeded our own expectations and are launching with a substantial amount of high-quality content with well-known stars and TV personalities that we believe will be the perfect fit for our audience.”
One of the new original series launches from Kin Community will be Comfort Kitchen hosted by Tia Mowry (Sister, Sister and Family Reunion) who will take viewers into her kitchen, teaching them to make all her favorite home-cooked recipes, with celebrity guests pitching in to chop, stir, and taste. New episodes of this series will premiere on the streaming service. Kin Community, a leader in celebrity-driven lifestyle programming, will also be providing hundreds of hours of lifestyle content on an AVOD exclusive basis such as All Things Adrienne with Adrienne Houghton (The Cheetah Girls, The Masked Singer), Hello Hunnay with Jeannie May (The Real), Side By Side with Malika (Sky High, ATL) and Khadijah (Sky High, Happy Feet), as well as many others.
“Tia Mowry's Comfort Kitchen is the perfect series to launch Kin's partnership with Chicken Soup for the Soul," said Michael Wayne, chief executive officer of Kin Community. "The combination of a world-class talent like Tia and Kin's premium lifestyle programming will help build meaningful audiences for Chicken Soup's new AVOD offering.”
On the scripted front, Chicken Soup for the Soul will feature original movies from Reel One Entertainment, a global production company that specializes in scripted dramatic content enjoyed by millions of viewers worldwide. These original titles will be premiering one per month and will be the first of a series of additional original scripted shows to be announced. Titles from Reel One Entertainment will include For the Love of Chocolate, Love Afloat, A Priceless Love, A Slice of Chicago Romance, Love for Starters, A Bouquet of Love, Love Map, A Snapshot of Forever, Love Amongst the Stars, The Beauty of Love, Love at the Ranch, and Love in Full Swing.
“The team from Reel One is enthusiastic to be working with the Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service,” said Tom Berry, chief executive officer of Reel One Entertainment. “Their vibrantly loyal audience is a perfect fit for the fun and romantic themes our titles will represent as original content on their network. We’re so excited to play a part in the historic launch of this entertainment destination.”
Classic series and movies from the Sonar library such as Mothers and Daughters (Susan Sarandon, Sharon Stone, Courteney Cox, Christina Ricci, Selma Blair, Mira Sorvino), Morning Glory (Christopher Reeve, Deborah Raffin), My Boyfriend’s Back (Sandy Duncan, Jill Eikenberry, Judith Light), and more will be available on the streaming service. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment acquired the Sonar library in April of 2021 and brought over 1400 hours of content composed of over 600 titles with 268 Emmy and 16 Golden Globe wins.
Chicken Soup for the Soul will bring home to its own streaming service Chicken Soup for the Soul Originals such as Hidden Heroes, Animal Tales, The New Americans, Project Dad, and Going From Broke executive produced with Ashton Kutcher. Premiering on AVOD on the streaming service will be the newest Chicken Soup for the Soul Original Smart Home Nation, produced by Efran Films in association with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and Parkside Entertainment, and hosted by Tanya Memme,
“The programming coming from Kin, Reel One and our Sonar library are great examples of the type of content fans can expect to see on Chicken Soup for the Soul’s streaming service,” said Philippe Guelton, president of Crackle Plus. “We’ve already started introducing the brand as a FAST channel and we’re launching a branded Chicken Soup “tray” on Crackle, to give fans easy access to the content as it rolls out wide with additional partners over the next few months.”
The Crackle Plus streaming services are currently distributed through 60 touch points in the U.S. on platforms including Amazon FireTV, RokuTV, Apple TV, Smart TVs (Samsung, LG, VIZIO), gaming consoles (PS4 and Xbox One), Plex, iOS and Android mobile devices and on desktops at Crackle.com, with previously announced plans to expand to over 80 touch points. Crackle is also available in approximately 500,000 hotel rooms in the Marriott Bonvoy chain.
ABOUT CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL ENTERTAINMENT
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE) (the “Company”) operates streaming video-on-demand networks (VOD). The Company owns Crackle Plus, which owns and operates a variety of ad-supported and subscription-based VOD networks including Crackle, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Truli, Pivotshare, Españolflix and FrightPix. The Company also acquires and distributes video content through its Screen Media subsidiary and produces original video content through the Chicken Soup for the Soul Television Group. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is a subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, which publishes the famous book series and produces super-premium pet food under the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand name.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance. Such assumptions involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to our core strategy, operating income and margin, seasonality, liquidity, including cash flows from operations, available funds, and access to financing sources, free cash flows, revenues, net income, profitability, stock price volatility, future regulatory changes, price changes, the ability of the Company’s content offerings to achieve market acceptance, the Company’s success in retaining or recruiting officers, key employees, or directors, the ability to protect intellectual property, the ability to complete strategic acquisitions, the ability to manage growth and integrate acquired operations, the ability to pay dividends, regulatory or operational risks, and general market conditions impacting demand for the Company’s services. For a more complete description of these and other risks and uncertainties, please refer the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2021, and for further information regarding our recent acquisition of the Sonar library and related assets, please see our Current Reports on Form 8-K, as amended, filed with the SEC on May 27, 2021 and July 1, 2021. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.
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