Palisades Tartan CEO: London Fire ‘Devastated’ Business

15 Aug, 2011 By: Chris Tribbey

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European music distributors accounted for the majority of the 25 million-plus discs destroyed Aug. 8 when rioters set fire to a Sony DADC warehouse in London.

But there were DVDs and Blu-ray Discs in that warehouse too, and at least one American DVD distributor saw its entire overseas stock go up in smoke.

“All of our inventory is gone, just gone. And we don’t know what we’re going to do next,” said Soumya Sriraman, president and CEO of Palisades Tartan. “We’re not sure when we’re going to be back up.”

Sriraman said Palisades Tartan lost an estimated 250,000 units in the fire, including catalog titles dating back to 2006. Palisades acquired Tartan Films’ U.S. library in May 2008 and in July that year acquired a majority of Tartan Films U.K.’s film library.

Sriraman noted that DADC is working with Palisades Tartan and others affected by the fire to replace the lost discs, but business will be hurt no matter how fast discs are replicated, she said.

“We’re going to lose sales every week, no matter what, and all we can do is keep our head down and deal with it,” she said.

A Sony DADC spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment. The U.K. arm of the company released a statement stressing it was working fast to accommodate all companies affected by the fire.

“We are working very closely with our customers and based on their release schedules, 1.5 million discs are in the process of being remanufactured at both our manufacturing sites in the U.K. and Austria,” Sony DADC said in a statement. “In addition, we are extending our direct to retail distribution from our U.K. manufacturing site to reduce shipment delays.

“We are already studying a number of medium to long-term solutions of alternative site options for business continuity, and in this context we have received a number of offers of support from Sony affiliate companies, local distribution centers and other companies from within the industry,” the statement reads.

British media reported that three teenagers were arrested in connection with the fire.
 

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