Leading industry companies and organizations including headline sponsor Sony Digital Cinema 4K, Technicolor, Arqiva, Arts Alliance Media, dCinex, More2Screen, MyMovies, Rentrak, Sound Associates and Vista will sponsor and participate in the first U.K. Digital Cinema Conference being hosted by Digital Cinema Solutions on Feb. 7 at the Vue Westfield in West London.

The theme for the one-day conference will be digital innovation and alternative content geared to be of interest specifically to film distributors, exhibitors and related services and suppliers. The event is supported by the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association, the Film Distributors’ Association and the Digital Funding Partnership.

Derek Cownty, Digital Cinema Solutions director, reports, “We have had an outstanding response from sponsors and speakers signing up to this conference, underlining both the relevance and potential of digital to both the cinema business and to audiences as consumers. The discussion sessions within the conference will be looking in some detail at business facts and figures as well as programming case studies that exemplify shifts in consumer take-up.”

Technicolor, a sponsor of the event, will lead a discussion on the cost efficiencies of digital technology for distributors and exhibitors, chaired by George Eyles, the company’s head of worldwide business development and strategic planning for digital cinema.

Steve Perrin, CEO of the Digital Funding Partnership, will head a discussion on developments in technology including laser, 3D, high frame rates and sound with Richard Welsh, head of operations for Technicolor Digital Cinema U.K., Rich Philips from Arts Alliance Media, David Monk from the European Digital Cinema Forum and Jim Slater from Cinema Technology.

Perrin notes, “This conference could not come at a better time for the U.K. cinema sector. The U.K. led the advance internationally on digital, with the result that, to all intents and purposes, the U.K. commercial cinema is now fully digital. Looking at where we are today and developments in the pipeline is relevant not only to distributors and exhibitors, but to any business involved in bringing film entertainment to audiences.”

Till Cussman from dCinex will give a presentation on the challenges and opportunities for commercial independent exhibitors; Jan Runge from the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) will provide an update on the forthcoming CineEurope 2013 forum in Barcelona; and Melissa Keeping from the Event Cinema Association will look at some of the most recent case studies of alternative content for cinemas with Marco Tinnirello of Arqiva, Don Ward of The Comedy Store, Alastair Roberts of Royal Opera House Enterprises, and Tim Plyming of the British Museum.

Pete Buckingham from SampoMedia will look at the audience response to sound and screen technology advances. David Hancock from IHS Screen Digest will launch the conference with an overview of how digital and 3D are positioning cinemas for today’s and tomorrow’s audiences.

Media partners for the conference are Screentrade, Cinema Technology, IHS Screen Digest and Cue Entertainment.

Regular program, sponsor and speaker updates are available at: www.digitalcinemasolutions.co.uk/conference. Ticket prices are as follows: £125 + VAT for CEA/DFP/FDA and ECA members and £150 + VAT for non-members.