Mountainfilm And Skram Media Announce Strategic Partnership

Mountainfilm in Telluride and Skram Media, owners of UCTV, today announced a strategic partnership that will combine Mountainfilm’s quality programming with UCTV’s vast online audience to enhance the entertainment experience on UCTV while engaging viewers in innovative new ways to promote Mountainfilm’s 2007 Festival lineup and other films over the next year.

Under the terms of the agreement, Skram Media will create an official Mountainfilm TV Channel on UCTV to house its 2007 Festival Preview area with exclusive video clips. In addition, over the next year, Mountainfilm will upload several video clips and promos to the Mountainfilm Channel on UCTV.

“The UCTV and Mountainfilm partnership symbolizes what can happen when traditional media and new media find common ground,” said Daiva Chesonis, Marketing Director, Mountainfilm. “UCTV is the perfect online media partner to promote Mountainfilm’s marquee climbing films to their audience and explore new and creative ways to harness the power of video. We are thrilled to be partnering with this forward-thinking company.”

“We are delighted to work with Mountainfilm on what looks to be one of the largest online video content partnerships in climbing media. Bringing more entertaining and exclusive content to UCTV helps further our goal of providing the best climbing video entertainment experience on the Internet,” said Mark Crowther, founder and CEO of Skram Media. “This partnership provides greater visibility and access to both Mountainfilm’s and UCTV’s audiences, providing both companies with new outlets for growth and opportunity.”

About Mountainfilm

Twenty-nine years ago, a group of climbers and friends cut the ribbon on Mountainfilm in Telluride. Largely the plan of Telluride locals Bill Kees and Lito Tejada-Flores, the notion was inspired by Tejada-Flores’ trip to a film festival in Trento, Italy, to screen his newly minted film, Fitzroy. Upon his return to Telluride, he and kees agreed that Telluride’s historic Sheridan Opera House would make an ideal setting for an American version of a mountain-related film festival. Throw in lots of available climbing and skiing, enough good beer, the best of the era’s 16mm films, and an idea got rolling. Add neighbor Royal Robbins and the American Alpine Club’s Bob Craig, and you could darn well print a letterhead. Former Climbing owner/publisher Michael Kennedy and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard joined up shortly thereafter and an idea crept toward becoming an institution. That first Mountainfilm consisted of a mere dozen or so films shown over three evenings. The daytimes were spent climbing. For over a quarter of a century, the Festival has sustained the founders’ dream—evolving (mutating perhaps) but still true to the core idea that friends, adventure, passion, and powerful ideas are as seductive as ever.

About UCTV
Launched in January 2006, UCTV is an Internet site for people to watch and share original climbing videos worldwide through a Web experience. UCTV allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.ucmag.tv. The site currently delivers more than 30,000 video views every month with new videos uploaded daily. A division of Skram Media LLC, UCTV has quickly become the leading destination on the Internet for climbing video entertainment.