German multimedia producer mediacs has followed rival e-m-s new media into the film licensing business. It has sealed an output deal for the production and distribution of DVDs for films from Berlin-based production house TTD Checkpoint Berlin.

The first TTD productions to be released on mediacs' own DVD label will be Peter Patzak's South Africa-set thriller Falling Rocks and Hans Joerg Thurn's Marmor, Stein & Eisen.

Mediacs has handled the production of DVDs for such labels as VCL/MAWA and MAWA/EMI, picking up six 'DVD Excellence Awards' earlier this year for its work. Recent releases included the special editions of Shanghai Noon, Crazy and The Sixth Sense, as well as the CD-DVD edition of musician Herbert Groenemeyer's concert film Stand Der Dinge.

"We will also invest in the future with the expansion of the licensing business, and build up our stock of licences and market presence with further cooperations," said Christian Zertz, mediacs' head of entertainment business development. "At the moment, further talks are being held with national and international partners".

In mid-May, mediacs announced plans to plough around Euros5m into the construction of a state-of-the-art development and production studio for digital storage media in Potsdam-Babelsberg.