When Cinedigm Corp. was looking to sell its Woodland Hills-based Hollywood Software division, David Gajda saw an opportunity to get back into the entertainment industry with a business he was already familiar with. Gajda founded Hollywood Software in 1997 as a support service between movie theater owners and distributors for booking films and collecting box office receipts. He sold the business to Cinedigm, in Los Angeles, in 2003. Obviously much has changed since then. Cinedigm transitioned away from its original business model of converting theaters from 35mm film projectors to digital equipment to becoming a distributor of independent and alternative movies for theaters and online streaming services. Hollywood Software did not fit in with that model and went up for sale. That’s when Gajda entered the picture to make an all-cash deal. “I put together a group of investors and did the acquisition,” Gajda said. The deal closed in September and soon after that the company was renewing a lease for three years to stay in its west San Fernando Valley offices. Hollywood Software employs 22 workers with plans to add five by the end of the year. Its software is used by such studios as Paramount Pictures Corp., Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Universal Pictures to track sales activities, and manages more than 12,000 movie screens worldwide for exhibitors. “Lionsgate has a longstanding relationship with both Hollywood Software and David Gajda,” said Richie Fay, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Lions Gate. “Their distributor software is an important part of our business, and we use it for all of our releases, including the upcoming ‘Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.’” Gajda’s revamp of the company comes at a time when the conversion to digital movie theaters is nearly complete, with nearly 38,000 U.S. theaters (out of a total of 40,000) and 79,000 screens internationally having moved to digital projection. For the last few years, the large movie studios paid exhibitors a “virtual print fee” to offset the cost of the digital equipment. With that arrangement winding down, it will open the door for more independent and alternative films. Hollywood Software’s future is in programming those venues and being a facilitator to work with distributors. “You will see a lot more niche content at theaters,” Gajda said. Also, Gajda would like to see the company become an incubator of sorts for app development that clients can use for programming digital screens and using data derived from that programming for marketing purposes. “It’s a blank slate that we want to be a part of,” he said. La Ranchera Liberman Broadcasting Inc. has switched its La Ranchera station to the FM band starting this month, the company announced. The station had previously been airing over KHJ-AM (930) until the sale of that station to Immaculate Heart Radio, a Catholic radio network in Loomis. La Ranchera will continue to broadcast on KWIZ-FM (96.7) from studios in Burbank, where Liberman is headquartered, and Orange County. La Ranchera replaces another Mexican format, La Rockola, which Liberman Chief Operating Officer Winter Horton described as dance music. “Ranchera is a legacy format and so popular that we wanted to move it over to FM,” Horton said. The average listenership for La Ranchera during its final month on AM was about 1.1 percent of a population of 11.2 million. La Rockola, by comparison, brought in 0.8 percent of that listening population. For Liberman, moving La Ranchera to the FM dial was the next step in the format’s evolution. Staying up on the times was important, Horton said. AM radio is in a competitive atmosphere where digital radio and listening to streaming music online is growing at a rapid pace, he added. “The future of AM is one I am not sure of,” Horton said. Liberman operates 19 radio stations in Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston, 10 television stations in California, Utah and Texas, and Estrella TV, a national Spanish-language television network. To support La Ranchera’s move, Liberman will launch a marketing campaign on Estrella TV to be followed by a print campaign. Canadian Cartoons Bento Box Entertainment has partnered with Corus Entertainment to produce animated primetime content to air on Canadian network Teletoon. Bento Box, in Burbank, will work with Nelvana, Corus’ animation studio, on programming aimed at older teens and adults for Teletoon’s primetime block, Teletoon at Night. The partnership will draw on Bento Box’s experience and relationship with top comedy writers, animators and visual artists. Chief Executive Scott Greenberg called Corus, in Toronto, a great partner for its presence in the international animation market. “We look forward to developing a library of hit primetime shows that can be delivered on all platforms in this new digital age,” Greenberg said in a prepared statement. Bento Box’s credits include the Emmy winning series “Bob’s Burgers,” “The Awesomes,” “Out There,” and contributing work to “The Simpsons” and “King of The Hill.” Staff Reporter Mark R. Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or [email protected].