HONG KONG – William Pfeiffer is to quit Celestial Pictures, the film library TV channels and distribution business he has headed for the past seven years.

Pfeiffer is expected to segue into a leadership role at new company with a business model spanning film and television, production and broadcasting. New company is understood to have backing from a leading Hollywood independent label and coin from multi-national sources.

His departure from the Celestial CEO role is effective almost immediately, with his last day of service Sunday 9 March.

Internally, Celestial staff members have been told of his departure, but Celestial is not expected to make a statement. Public announcement is expected to come from Malaysian parent company Astro.

Celestial is built around the 760-title Shaw Brothers library of movies from Hong Kong and China. Many of these pics have been restored for re-release on video or as the foundation of the five year old Celestial Movies channel.

Celestial has branched into theatrical distribution in Hong Kong, distribution of third-party TV content and mobile content. Company is understood now to be cash-flow positive.