fp Turks and Caicos

After four years of being known as LRaye Cinema, the country’s only movie theater has changed its name.

The cinema’s operator Derek Handfield told media May 3 that it was time to rename the cinema, and he wanted a name that reflected the community, and TCI Cinemas Ltd. is the name that was chosen.

Handfield said the TCI Cinemas will offer the same “great experience,” just under a new name and with a new corporate partner to help promote the brand. During the rebranding ceremony Handfield announced a naming partnership with Digicel, the islands’ largest telecommunication company, where the movie theater will be branded and marketed as Digicel TCI Cinemas.

“I think it is two great brands coming together, “explained Digicel TCI CEO E. Jay Saunders.

Saunders was smiling from ear to ear celebrating the expanding relationship with the newly rebranded Digicel TCI Cinemas at its launch event.

“One of the things about communications technology is that it brings family and friends together,” Saunders said. “And we are happy that based on our market share, that most family and friends in the TCI come together over our network. This partnership builds on our desire to see family and friends spending quality time together.”

While Digicel only recently came on as the named sponsor of the cinema, the partnership began last year when Digicel began giving out free movie tickets to customers to help encourage family time, Saunders said.

“We take family time very seriously, and we would like to encourage all our valued customers that when they’re at the movies to put their phones on silent and to enjoy the quality time with their loved one,” Saunders said.

The rebranding event coincided with the highly anticipated release of the blockbuster Avengers movie. When asked about how he relates to the movie Saunders said, “The movie follows a group of remarkable people fighting for others who can’t fight for themselves. We feel that we’re a remarkable company that fought against a giant six years ago to bring great telecommunication products and services at great prices to the people of the Turk and Caicos Islands. Like with the Avengers, the battle is never-ending, but at least with Digicel in the marketplace the customer has someone who is fighting on their behalf.”

In addition to the renaming, Handfield also revealed that as early as the end of this year the cinema will be moving to a completely digital system for receiving movies. The advantage will include greater access to first run movies, as well as movies which were previously not available due to limited print and the cost of distribution to the island. The cinema’s partnership with Digicel will most likely see its digital movie service running over Digicel’s high-speed Internet service, which according to Saunders “is the best Internet service in the country in terms of upload and download speeds and price per megabyte.”

Photo: Derek Handfield and Digicel TCI CEO E. Jay Saunders announce the rebranding of LRaye Cinema to Digicel TCI Cinema.