'Straight Up: Helicopters in Action' Takes Off To Russian Market

Janson Media announced today that it has licensed Straight-Up: Helicopters in Action from its Giant Screen Films Collection to Red Media Group of Moscow, Russia for its premium infotainment TV channel 'HD Life.' Narrated by Martin Sheen, the documentary shows the vital role helicopters play in modern civil and military aviation around the world. Filmed for release in IMAX® and other Giant Screen theaters, each documentary film or docudrama from the Giant Screen Films Collection takes an in-depth look at intriguing subjects and locations from around the world, uncovering their mystique and beauty. Red Media Group previously struck a deal last May to acquire 10 hours of Janson Media content, and over 100 hours of programming the year prior.

In Straight Up! viewers travel with helicopter crews as they respond to real-world needs, including a high-voltage live-wire repair, a high-sea rescue, a drug bust, scientific research, endangered species relocation, humanitarian aid, land-and-sea military maneuvers, and more. This special takes viewers on an adventure around the world from Sierra Leone for a humanitarian aid delivery in the largest helicopter in the world, to Miami for a wild ride in a Black Hawk helicopter intercepting drug runners. Viewers will swing through the air with five Marines dangling from a rope attached to a CH-46 flying over the Atlantic and swoon as a Cobra swoops low over enemy territory. The roller-coaster ride has barely begun. In the style of a Giant Screen Film, viewers will traverse 500,000-volt high wires, ride along as a veterinarian shoots a tranquilizer at a black rhino from a helicopter flying 10 feet above ground in South Africa, and drop into the ocean to rescue an imperiled sailor.

Red Media specializes in creation and propagation of television channels for the satellite and cable and has become one of the most important providers of niche television stations in Russia, the Baltic States and other CIS countries, offering viewers a wide selection of domestic and foreign films, documentaries, and TV series.

Established in 1989, Janson Media is an independent content distribution company based in the United States, with a rights portfolio of over 1,500 hours of exclusive programming available for licensing to worldwide television, VOD, DVD/video, non-theatric, and emerging new media markets, and a publisher/ manufacturer of award-winning DVDs. The company has licensed programming to virtually every country in the world, and its clients include most major broadcasters and media companies.