ITV

Category: Movie Channels

  • &Pictures premieres ‘Besharam’with Ranbir Kapoor

    &Pictures premieres ‘Besharam’with Ranbir Kapoor

    MUMBAI: This weekend, take a few tips from Babli- the street smart thief – on how to live life to the fullest with Abhinav Kashyap’s ‘Besharam’. Catch Ranbir Kapoor in a silly, mischievous avatar as he steals cars for money to support his orphanage and ends up falling in love of one of his ploy’s victims – Tara. With the entire Kapoor family – Rishi, Neetu and Ranbir – hitting the screen for the first time together, it is a laugh-riot with all the mirch-masala for a perfect Bollywood film!

     

    Meet the crazy street gang, the villainous Chandel and Babli’s hilarious antics with each and follow the couple’s crazy adventures for a fun-filled Saturday night at home!

     

    Tune in to &pictures at 8:00pm this Saturday, April 12, 2014 to find out if the Besharam Babli and the beautiful Tara have a happily ever after ending!

  • Watch Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows, only on Movies Now

    Watch Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows, only on Movies Now

    MUMBAI: In the crackling international conspiracy, MOVIES NOW sets the high definition screen for Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. Watson, the popular witty duo, reigniting interest in the iconic detective series. Catch the stellar performance of Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows on india’s high definition Channel Movies Now, this Saturday, 12th April 2014 at 9 PM.

    The chockablock of explosions, gunfire, special effects and fights, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows went on to becoming a commercially successful film with a worldwide gross of over $545 million. The plot of ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ is intriguing and keeps the audience glued to inquisitiveness. It introduces new mastermind – Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, makes this movie a must watch for all adventure junkies! Catch the movie as it airs on Movies Now at 9PM, this Saturday 12th April.

    The startling visual effects and exciting storyline, Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows was nominated as the Best Action/Adventure Film at Saturn Awards, and Best Action Choice of the Movie at Teen Choice Awards. A high-caliber entertainment blockbuster, experience Robert Downey’s flippant manner in many disguises, one with a markedly bad wig, another as a remarkably convincing chair.

    The riveting performances, hilarious comic timing and a film that will even draw tears, catch all the action unlock in the Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows cheering you throughout this Saturday, 12th April 2014 at 9PM, only on MOVIES NOW.

  • Sony Pix pushes the envelope with on-ground activations

    Sony Pix pushes the envelope with on-ground activations

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media’s English movie channel – Sony Pix – is leaving no stone unturned to push the envelope in creating engagement with its viewers with clutter breaking on-ground activities.

    “We constantly push the envelope in the English movie channel space and that has helped us to keep our viewers engaged with our ‘Stay Amazed’ proposition,” says Sony Pix business head Saurabh Yagnik. “We will continue to do such clutter breaking activities and do our best to continue to cement our position at number two in the space and inch closer to becoming the leader in the space.”

    The channel is taking its ‘Pix Premiere Nights’ initiative to a whole new level by providing its viewers a chance to experience the second installment to the Andrew Garfield starrer The Amazing Spiderman a day prior to its 1 May India release.

    “The idea is to build the Hollywood audience, and by increasing the consumption along with the familiarity, it builds traction for movies before their theatrical release,” expounds Yagnik.

    The channel is expected to be spending anywhere between Rs 2-3 crore to push this initiative. “The scale at which the property – ‘Pix Premiere Nights’ – has grown is really encouraging for us. With Hobbit we had travelled to three cities, it went up to six cities during Robocop where we saw a participation of 8,000 plus viewers and now with The Amazing Spider Man 2 we will be travelling to 10 cities and have 11 screenings with a clear message of ‘watch it before India does’. We have already seen nearly 2,500 plus participants with 20 more days to go before the result of the contest is declared,” Yagnik beams.

    The 10 cities being targeted are Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Chennai. The contest began on 4 April and is being marketed and pushed on social media as well as on the channel and is being sponsored by Snapdeal.com.

    “Nowadays if a movie is marketed well, it translates into great box-office numbers and also gets good television viewership when premiered on a channel,” explains Yagnik. “Plans are afoot to really push the property on the channel with innovative programming and trivia, which will soon go on air.”

    Pix will be building the buzz for the movie and the contest by running the Spiderman and Iron Man movie franchises among others through ‘Pix Doubles’ along with giving great insights and trivia during the movies with its very own ‘Pixipedia’.

    “We will also be showcasing a special ‘Behind the Scenes’ exclusive footage from The Amazing Spider Man 2. The idea is to build salience with the brand ‘Pix’ and create a recall value for our viewers,” reveals Yagnik.

    The 2,000 odd contest winners from across the length and breadth of the country will receive calls to invite them for the screening. “If we want to become leaders in the space, and sizably scale up our market share, we need to invest in building our brand and keep coming with such engaging innovations and clutter breaking initiatives,” Yagnik ends.

  • Movie channels gear up for the IPL onslaught

    Movie channels gear up for the IPL onslaught

    Season seven of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is just a couple of weeks away, but instead of worrying about possible loss of viewership and ad revenue, movie channels are gearing up to serve even more interesting fare to their audiences.

    Helios Media MD Divya Radhakrishnan opines: “IPL affects television across genres. GECs do not launch new shows, there are no reality shows, and no big blockbusters happen on movie channels. During IPL, everything comes to a standstill because that is the focal point during these months. However, the only thing posing a hindrance for IPL this time is the elections.”

    The 9:00 pm slot is typically lost in the IPL frenzy however, over the years, television channels have learnt to work around the hugely popular tourney. Besides, movie channels claim that movies serve as entertainment for both – the young and the old, and hence, they can be consumed at any point of time irrespective of other activities happening in the broadcast space.

    Yet, according to broadcasters of English movies, the 11:00 pm slot enjoys high ratings during IPL season, and strategising around this slot helps them compensate for erosion of viewership that takes place during the 9:00 pm time band. Broadcasters of Hindi movies on the other hand remain unaffected, and continue to mark their FPCs as per their preferences. Hindi movie channels mainly focus on catching viewers in the afternoon just before the beginning of the cricket match.

    About Star Movies’ and Star Movies Action’s plans during IPL 7, Star India business head English cluster, Kevin Vaz, says: “The strategy is that viewers can immediately switch to exhilarating blockbusters after an exciting match of cricket. Both channels have a fantastic line-up for their audiences and will provide the best Hollywood content.”

    With a view to amplifying the excitement of IPL, Star Movies has crafted an exclusive, on-air festival that brings together some of the biggest Hollywood premieres. “Riding on the heels of the IPL, Star Movies is bringing out a month-long movie festival titled ‘Super Star League’ in April and May, every night at 11:00 pm. We also have Amazon on board as a presenting sponsor,” says Vaz.  

    Additionally, Star Movies will continue to premiere the biggest Hollywood blockbusters every month and has a great line-up including Oblivion starring Tom Cruise and a host of films featuring Jackie Chan. “Viewers can also look forward to a host of animation movies next month,” Vaz reveals.

    Star Movies Action plans a contest round the special superhero line-up plus a speed demon festival featuring racing hits like Death Race, Ghost Rider, Gone in 60 Seconds and Speed. The Action@ 8 segment will see favourites like Predator, The Man with the Iron Fists and Hell Boy.

    “We have always placed a great importance on the digital medium as we feel that we can really connect with our viewers and gauge their preferences via online activities. In the new age, everyone is online and it is the best place to really interact effectively with our audiences,” says Vaz.

    As for HBO, the channel will air season five of its ‘Hollywood Premiere League (HPL)’ alongside season seven of IPL. Blockbusters including Jack Reacher, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Dark Knight Rises, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, Wrath of the Titans, The Hunger Games and Parker will be telecast at 11:00 pm, Monday to Thursday, from April 14 to May 22, 2014.

    “The idea is to have a good content mix primarily driven by genres that are well received i.e. action and comedy. And that is what drives ratings, viewership and ad revenues in the end,” says HBO South Asia MD Monica Tata. “We will be doing on-ground activity, radio, on-air and social media promotions as well, building momentum for the two-month long festival that will offer blockbusters soon after the IPL matches get over.”

    Multi Screen Media’s Sony Pix, sister channel of official IPL broadcasters Sony Max and Sony Six, will air season four of its ‘Pix Premiere League (PPL)’ alongside IPL. “We will continue to program around IPL with the fourth season of PPL, as it is the biggest cricketing event in the country,” says Sony Pix business head Saurabh Yagnik. “The PPL has a line-up of our best titles and we have witnessed a spike in viewership during this time for the 11:00 pm slot as well. We want viewers to witness some of the best movies on our channel with the proposition, ‘Stay Amazed’.”

    PPL will be telecast at 11:00 pm Monday to Sunday from 16 April to 1 June. Only on Thursdays, there will be ‘Pix Doubles’ or ‘Super Pix’ or ‘Mega Premiere’ and Snapdeal.com will be the sponsor. With IPL being a MSM property, Pix will leverage Sony Max to get viewers to tune into PPL and catch some really good titles post the action on the field. The plan is to showcase 40 to 45 movie titles during IPL including The Amazing Spider-Man, Into the Blue, Rocky, The Terminator, Shaolin Soccer, Shutter Island, 2012, Kung Fu Hustle and After Earth. With less than two weeks’ time left, Sony Pix will premiere White House Down and Elysium to monetise well before the IPL begins.

    Zee Studio too is working on its programming around the IPL and will continue its Powerplay block that has been reloaded this year with a thrilling mix of Hollywood Action blockbusters through the month of May to attract viewers on to the channel. Powerplay starts 1 May, Monday to Friday at 10:00 pm.

    The block will see movies like: Cowboys and Aliens, Pirates of the Caribbean, Armageddon, Déj? Vu, Air Force One, John Carter and Enemy of the State.

    Talking about Powerplay Zee Studio EVP and business head Anurag Bedi says: “During the IPL, the English movie genre has historically witnessed a sizeable increase in male viewership and we will capitalise on the channel’s heavy online presence, of one million plus fanbase on Facebook and 50,000 followers on twitter by setting it abuzz with activities all through the month. Powerplay will also be promoted extensively via television and print in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.”

    Unlike most English movie channels which are trying to create a property around IPL through packaging and programming blocks, the Times Television Network English entertainment channels will stick to what they do best. “We don’t want to come across as gimmicky by doing a ‘premier league’ though these things may help in generating more revenues, but it does not really add to the viewership,” says Times Television Network English entertainment channels’ CEO Ajay Trigunayat.

    Movies Now will compete with IPL through ‘Adrenaline Drive’, a block which has been successful for the past two and a half years for the channel. It will play at 11:00 pm, Monday to Thursday, beginning 7 April. Apart from high-octane movies like Commando, Iron Man, Salt, Transporter 2, Clash of the Titans, Batman Begins, Mr & Mrs Smith, Knight & Day, Behind Enemy Lines, 300, Collateral Damage and Superman Returns, Movies Now will also air the Matrix trilogy on 20 April, Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows on 12 April, and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island on 5 April, all at 9:00 pm. While Movies Now gets around Rs 9,000 for a 10-second slot, it is pitching about Rs 12,000 per 10 seconds for ‘Adrenaline Drive’.

    Speaking of Romedy Now, Trigunayat says: “We have Friends With Better Lives launching from 1 April. It launched on CBS in the US at 8.30 pm on 31 March and we have done an interesting thing of launching a show at 11:00 pm, which is unprecedented, because prime time viewing has certainly shifted from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm as that is a better viewed slot today than 9:00 pm.”

    In addition, Romedy Now will introduce two tent-pole properties in April i.e. Jolly Good Chaplin, a Charlie Chaplin special, and Romedy Weddings, a collection of unique movies keeping in mind the upcoming wedding season. The channel is also gearing up for the launch of a brand new series, 1600 Penn, which will be aired in May.

    Romedy Now’s current properties including Kitchen Confidential, Witches of East End, Sunny Sundays, Y So Serious and Happy Hours will continue.

    “Romedy Now is a content-agnostic channel. The content line-up consists of the best entertainment, keeping the core proposition of ‘Love. Laugh. Live’ intact. The content planned for the next two months is incredibly exciting. The Chaplin series will be quite a favourite, along with, of course, Friends With Better Lives, which is a brand new series written by Dana Klein (from the popular series F.R.I.E.N.D.S.),” says Trigunayat.

    Asked about the strategy deployed by English movie channels, a media observer said, “Properties based around IPL on English movie channels essentially serve two purposes. One, they allow channels to package these properties for the advertisers, and hence, monetise them better than their regular FPC. Two, it helps keep the buzz on the channel alive, so that the channel is not lost in the IPL hype.”

    Unlike English movie channels, Hindi movie channels are on a different route altogether.

    As Star Gold & Movies OK executive VP & GM, Hemal Jhaveri says: “It is business as usual; it’s about forming the habit for viewers, and there is so much of cricket happening anyways, nothing really changes for us dramatically during the IPL. The premieres will get their share of the marketing push through our networks.”

    Star Gold’s highlight for the month of April is ‘Masaledar Hits’, where every day, the channel will dish out a ‘Masaledar’ movie in the early evening slot; this will be a key property to win share in the non-prime time band. Golmaal 3, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Agneepath (Amitabh Bachan), Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani, De Dana Dan and Bhagam Bhaag among others will be aired as part of this block.

    Similarly for May, Star Gold will have ‘Blockbuster Noon’, which Jhaveri describes as “a programming stunt that we are planning to pull off where we will showcase a slew of blockbusters in the afternoon time band on week days. As we believe weekdays are the new weekends.”

    Additionally, the first Rs 100 crore grosser of this year, Salman Khan-starrer Jai Ho will premiere on a weekend in May followed by the world television premiere of O Teri.

    Movies OK will continue running the Family OK Holiday Special Contest on weekdays, early evening. “The idea is to engage and interact with the entire family and at the same time, provide an opportunity to watch and win the contest,” says Jhaveri. The contest gives viewers a chance to win a smart phone every day and a lucky family to go for an all expenses-paid international holiday to Thailand. This band will see movies like Main Hoon Na, Khatta Meetha, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehtein Hain, Beta and Tere Naam among others.

    Bullett Raja will premiere on 27 April at 8:00 pm and in May; the channel will run the ‘SuperVeers – Action Blockbusters’ block at 8:00 pm on weekdays, apart from the channel premiere of the hit, Yaariyan in the weekend primetime band.

    Leveraging the election fever with an aim to provide viewers with iconic reel leaders, Zee Cinema is launching the ‘Hamara Neta Kaisa Ho’ festival which will air from 14-21 April, 2014 everyday at 9:00 pm. The festival will see titles like Nayak, Himmatwala and Aparichit – The Stranger.

    “Entering into our 20th year of entertaining our audiences with Movies, Masti and Magic, it has been our constant endeavour at Zee Cinema, to constantly provide our viewers novel offerings. We thrive to deliver the best to our audience hence have been rewarded with the highest GVTs, making the movie channel the undisputed leader in its genre. We are not aiming at combating IPL… in fact we look at it as an opportunity where television viewing will have increased eyeballs due to the election and IPL fervor,” explains Zeel deputy VP, head of programming – Hindi movie channels Ruchir Tiwari.

    Zee Classic is strengthening its programming line-up for the month of April by premiering movies such as Nasir Hussain and Shammi Kapoor’s Dil Deke Dekho, two Kishore Kumar classics like Dilli Ka Thug and Bombay Ka Chor and Biswajeet’s Bees Saal Baad for the first time on the channel. The month of April will also witness evergreen superstar Rajendra ‘Jubliee’ Kumar’s festival which will see films like Gawar, Doo Jassos and Saathi amongst others. Zee Classic will be airing a special movie Leader on Voting Day, starring Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala, which revolves around politics. The plethora of movies will recreate the magic of yesteryears.

     “Zee Classic being the only classic Hindi movie channel in India believes in showcasing the great works of cinema. We have an extensive and unique library of superhit classic movies, and hence have created two primetime slots – 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm daily. Apart from this, the channel will also be showcasing movies of the evergreen superstar Rajendra Kumar which will pay a tribute to the Jubilee Star by airing a month-long festival called ‘Jubilee Kumar’,” reveals Tiwari.

    The newest channel from the Zee’s stable – &Pictures – in anticipation of the upcoming IPL, has built up the Sunday 12 noon slot with ‘Hollwood Sundays’, a property that brings up a new Hollywood movie in Asli Desi Flavours every Sunday at 12 noon. “The creation of a destination Pictures@8 that shows high voltage entertainment daily at 8:00 pm was launched in order to develop a loyal viewer base for the daily prime time slot,” adds Tiwari.

    The main attraction for the month of May will see the premiere of Total Siyappa, a co-production of &Pictures. The romcom directed by E. Niwas, released in theatres on 7 March.

    On the marketing and digital strategy Tiwari says: “The activities are being constantly supported with on-air promotions and constant digital buildups and this will continue throughout the year.”

    Looks like the stage is set… not just for the biggest cricket tourney in the shortest format of the game but also for the movie channels vying for eyeballs during this period. Game On!

  • MSM gets ready to max it with MAX 2

    MSM gets ready to max it with MAX 2

    MUMBAI: Its good news for movie buffs as Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) long awaited plan to launch one more movie channel is rolling along fine.  And the unveiling of the new service is likely to be once both the Indian Premier League (IPL) and elections are wrapped up and done.

     

    Multi-system operators (MSOs) say they have been approached by the Sony Entertainment Network (led by TheOneAlliance team) to keep aside space on their networks for two channels by May-end- early-June. 

     

    One of these according to MSOs is the movie channel which has been christened as MAX 2 while the other a GEC has not yet been given a name. The GEC is likely to work as a third flanking GEC to both Sony and SAB. And the management is introducing it to take advantage of the monetisation opportunities digitisation is expected to bring with it.

     

    Star India has in recent times been hyperactive by re-launching its Star Sports services under different brands like 1,2,3,4 and also flagging off Life OK to help absorb advertising inventory which cannot be absorbed by the market leader Star Plus. Ditto with Zee TV which has introduced &pictures while Colors debuted Rishtey India. Sony which has relatively been playing low-key was expected to up the ante and its impetus to launch new services such as the two channels is only expected.   

     

    Await detailed report…

  • “A holistic viewing experience with VAS will enlist consumer loyalty, moving forward”

    “A holistic viewing experience with VAS will enlist consumer loyalty, moving forward”

    MUMBAI: Having spent nearly 25 years in this industry, if there is one thing that has been constant over these years is the fact that there has never been a single dull moment! It’s a memorable journey which I live, learn and grow with every passing day.

     

    Whilst I have actively represented many genres in entertainment what comes naturally to me is movies, and so to be part of an iconic brand like HBO, is not only an honour but a dream come true! The path-breaking work HBO has done globally is truly a benchmark we aspire to match and go beyond in this part of the world as well.

     

    With growing fragmentation of this genre in India coupled with the tall challenge of not having much content differentiation between one channel and the other, it clearly calls out the need to bring something different to the consumer. In fact, the harsh reality of the day is that if one were to put their hand on the logo of a movie channel, one would never know which channel they were watching! Hence, I strongly believe that in the current context where lines of consumer loyalty are blurring, offering a holistic viewing experience with value added services would most certainly enlist consumer loyalty, moving forward. And this is exactly what we at HBO are currently doing and possibly paving a way for others to follow as well.

     

    Over the years, HBO has graduated from being a leading ‘Hollywood channel’ to one of the most celebrated ‘Premium Entertainment Experiences’. HBO has redefined television viewing in India through its latest offering of two 100% ad-free Premium Channels- HBO Defined and HBO Hits. Our vision is to create a cinema-like experience in the comfort of your home. In terms of content, we at HBO aim to strike a fine balance between blockbuster titles that rate year after year and our “differentiators” – critically acclaimed ‘HBO Original’ shows and movies.  Now with innovative services like ‘HBO on demand’, the subscription video on demand (SVOD) service offered for free exclusively to subscribers of the HBO Premium Channels- HBO Defined and HBO Hits- on Tata Sky, we are taking the premium experience a step further. ‘HBO on demand’ provides flexibility, choice, and convenience to subscribers, putting them in complete control of what they watch, when they watch, and how they watch. ‘HBO on demand’ will give HBO Premium Subscribers access to a wide selection of HBO original content with the convenience to watch what they like, when they like. Indian audiences no longer want to be limited to viewing content at specific times and want great flexibility and choice. The HBO Premium offering is aiming to fill that need.

     

    Having said that, we have to also admit that unfortunately, it’s not such a walk in the park and in hindsight, I guess it was never meant to be! Whilst digitisation has paved the way for players like us to come out with new revenue models, the on-ground reality with the cable fraternity leaves much to be desired. Until the marriage of MSOs and LCOs doesn’t get sorted in an amicable way, it would be testing our strengths for making these revenue models work. The need of the hour is for digital cable platforms to adopt learnings from DTH platforms and apply the same to fix some of the on-ground challenges. There definitely exists an opportunity for all platforms to address their growth against the backdrop of the ARPU challenge and I think, we all believe revenue-sharing models can be one of the ways forward. However, to make that happen, we need some tangible steps taken on the ground.

     

    Being an eternal optimist and seeing the glass always half full, I sincerely hope that these problems will fade away soon and I do see some baby steps being taken in that direction which will surely pave the way forward.

     

    If I had a genie asking me two wishes; firstly, I would ask for DTH platforms to have more bandwidth and secondly, I would ask for digital cable platforms to be more technology-ready and have a stronger customer value proposition.

     

    Some may argue that genies don’t exist so these wishes may not come true, but I believe the bottle has been opened and it’s just a matter of time before he comes out and grants me these wishes!

     

    (Monica Tata, managing director of HBO South Asia, was the Guest Editor Of the Day at Indiantelevision.com and the views expressed are her own.)

  • There is no channel loyalty in the genre: Monica Tata

    There is no channel loyalty in the genre: Monica Tata

    With nearly 25 years of experience behind her, HBO South Asia MD Monica Tata brings expertise in the management of television networks’ operations to the table.

     

    Tata has worked as part of the leadership team at Turner and has had a consistent record of increasing sales, effective negotiations, profit and loss analysis and strategic implementation of business operations; her performance with Turner and prior to that, Star India, stand testimony to her path of excellence. 

     

    An ability to overcome obstacles and capture opportunities by closing exclusive deals and creating and implementing savvy marketing strategies has been her forte. Tata’s efforts have been validated in the past, when she was adjudged one of India’s hottest young executives in media in 2009 by Business Today; counted among the ‘Next 30’ most powerful women to look out for in 2010; and among the top 50 influential women in media, marketing and advertising by a leading industry magazine – IMPACT in 2012.

     

    Sidharth Iyer of Indiantelevision.com spoke to Tata, who was also the Guest Editor of the Day, about the progress made by HBO in the past decade and the traction received by HBO Defined and HBO Hits among other things. Excerpts…

     

    Currently, the market is cluttered with nearly 10 English movie channels. What is HBO’s strategy to stay ahead of competition? What is the impact that the new players have had on the genre? Has it really eaten into someone’s ad pie?

     

    HBO has been around for 13 years, but when we launched HBO Defined and HBO Hits, the whole integrated strategy was what we were working towards for sustaining all the three channels.

     

    The proposition in premium and basic is very different; the basic clearly runs on advertising revenues and the content mix that you will witness in the basic version is driven by genres that are well received, primarily action and comedy. And that is what drives ratings, viewership and ad revenues in the end.  

     

    For our premium channel, the main proposition is that it is 100 per cent ad-free, and it has HBO original content and allows us to take more risks as we don’t have the sword of ratings hanging over our head as we are creating and providing a proposition.

     

    So, the way the sharing of the content is structured, it brings about a viewership experience between the three which is quite unique by itself. There is competition in this space now compared to a decade back, when there were only three major players.

     

    I think there is clear fragmentation in the genre and the major point of concern is that if you compare it to the English news channels, where there was an advent of more channels and it helped in increasing the size of the advertising pie; the same can’t be said for the movie space.

     

    Even as more and more channels have come on-board, the pie hasn’t really grown and that is a cause for concern for the genre. The viewership pie has grown by about 5-6 per cent but the revenue generated from advertising still stands between Rs 450 – Rs 500 crore, which was around Rs 350 crore a decade back… so really not much has changed.

     

    Having said that, this is one of the few genres where the revenue index to ratings is very high because of the premium value it holds in the market and with genre-specific channels also coming out now, the opportunities are there to be harvested.

     

    Which studios do you have first output deals with? How big is the movie library of HBO?

     

    We have tie-ups with Warner Bros and Paramount for first output deals, and the concept in the category has been changing in recent history. And the other prevalent issue is that content flows from one studio to one broadcaster and then to others with first, second, third and fourth runs.

     

    So, if we take an example of any movie in the last five years, it would have been seen on five different channels. But, where we are different is in the fact that apart from the deals with bigger studios like Warner Bros and Paramount, we have deals with other smaller and independent studios and producers of content as well.

     

    On the acquisition front, we not only look at acquiring big titles, but also some niche movies which are high on brand value and content as well. We recently got on-board some of the best movies from the recently concluded Oscars and are proud to have exclusive rights to titles like ‘12 Years A Slave’, ‘Gravity’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’.

     

    We would be having anything between 700-800 movie titles and are certainly focused on building on this along with creating more engaging original content globally.

     

    How has the traction been for HBO Defined and HBO Hits? What are the challenges faced by the genre in today’s day and age? How can they be overcome?

     

    When HBO basic was launched, the lay of the land was only ad revenue supported and we have continued to grow in the space. And we were able to bring HBO Defined and HBO Hits into the country on the back of digitisation.

     

    The response for the ad-free service is really encouraging, after having executed it on key platforms. The challenge now lies in growing that base, as the transition on the DTH platforms has been really smooth but the hurdle comes with the cable services. I believe the cause for the issue is the fact that there are too many stakeholders coming into play with multi-system operators and then the local cable operators to funnel it down to the end consumer.

    In the end, the industry needs to come together and keep in mind the interest of all the stakeholders and come up with the right value chain for a healthy ecosystem.

     

    HBO GO – the online streaming service of HBO – was launched in the Philippines yesterday, any plans of bringing the service to India? 

     

    HBO GO is a versatile service enabling subscribers to maximise their HBO experience across multiple devices, whether at home or on the move. But, there are a lot of hurdles that we need to consider before getting such a service to India. HBO GO’s broadband streaming service allows users to enjoy uncut, award-winning HBO and Cinemax Original content on multiple devices including computers, tablets and smartphones (iOS and Android) anywhere, anytime. The service is currently available only in Hong Kong and now Philippines.

     

    In India the service can’t be launched currently because we want to ensure that when the consumer logs on to watch some of his/her favourite HBO originals, they should not have to wait for the video to buffer and should be able to enjoy seamless viewing. The opportunity is really a great proposition for subscribers, who will have unlimited access to an extensive library of original movies, concerts, documentaries, and series, including complete seasons of favorites like Sex and the City, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, The Sopranos, and Entourage, and thought-provoking titles like Angels in America and John Adams. Special behind-the-scenes content of HBO Originals such as Boardwalk Empire, True Blood and Banshee will also be available exclusively on HBO GO, if and when the service comes to India.  

     

    Social media is a platform that is really acting as a great catalyst for most channels in the English movie genre, what is HBO’s strategy in the space?

     

    Social media is certainly a great focus point for us. We make a lot of effort in keeping our fans engaged on our social platforms, with a fanbase of over 3.1 million on Facebook and nearly 36,500 followers on Twitter, I believe we have encouraged the fans to really voice their thoughts on the kind of programming that they would like to view on the channel and we do consider their views.

     

    Our digital media is handled by New Delhi based OMLogic, who really help in keeping our social audience engaged with continuous uploads and comments flowing in. DDB Mudramax helps us with the planning and execution of our creative campaigns and we are well represented by Madison PR, who do a great job in handling our public relations for us.

     

    What do you think works in today’s day and age, appointment viewing or brand loyalty; or a good mix of both? What is it that viewers expect from the English movie genre?

     

    If you cover the logo of any movie channel with your hand, you won’t really know which channel you are seeing and this will be the case even five years down the line. To me, this is the biggest problem with the genre as there is no loyalty; the consumer is not watching the channel but the titles.

     

    So, if they are aware that a certain movie is coming on one channel, they will go to that channel, so the question really is how to create brand loyalty. In today’s fragmented world, there is so much of choice; the consumer is spoilt for choice.

     

    So the added value that we believe in to promote the proposition of brand loyalty is the cinematic experience. We believe we are doing that with HBO Defined and HBO Hits, with no advertisements, there will be no breaks, there is an HD experience and add to that, the technologically advanced sound with Dolby Digital surround sound.

     

    And the future lies in adopting technology in a big way, to the extent that I would go on to state that in today’s day and age, technology is king. And the idea is to bring the technological experience to the audience. We have taken the first step with ‘HBO on Demand’ on Tata Sky and these are the kind of things that will be bringing a revolution in the genre.

     

  • We’re excited to make people’s lives more Jing-a-la-la with HBO: Vikram Mehra

    We’re excited to make people’s lives more Jing-a-la-la with HBO: Vikram Mehra

    Under her watch, the English movies channel has only grown from strength to strength. Before taking charge as MD, HBO India, Monica Tata worked with Turner International India, quitting as General Manager, Entertainment Networks, South Asia, in 2012. Tata has nearly two and a half decades’ experience in the media and entertainment industry, and spent most of her formative years at Star India before moving on to Turner.

     

    Indiantelevision.com was more than happy to have Tata over as Guest Editor for a day and play fly-on-the-wall even as she grilled Tata Sky chief commercial officer Vikram Mehra about the association with HBO and more…Excerpts of the conversation between the two:

     

    Monica: What is the business model for providing the ‘HBO On Demand’ service?

     

    Vikram: The way we are looking at it right now, which is also in sync with our philosophy at Tata Sky is that apart from offering television channels which customers are used to, providing those channels with great picture quality and better customer service is our lookout.

     

    We are also very keen to try out unconventional products and services, which customers haven’t tried out till now and give them a flavour of that. Whether it’s trying out varied services like Karaoke which nobody ever thought could be offered on a television-based platform, which is a global first for us. On our partnership with HBO, where customers are showing interest in watching premium content like HBO Defined and HBO Hits. Not only are they getting to watch 100 per cent ad-free content, but also older seasons that they would not have been exposed to otherwise.

     

    So, somebody who has never been exposed to say, a Game of Thrones, and is keen to watch season four, what with so much publicity around it, need not bother with downloading bad quality content from Torrentz or buying it from the pirated market. Our partnership with HBO is such that any customer subscribing to its premium offering would also get a free entitlement to watch back seasons of all leading shows on VOD.

     

    Monica: So will this be available to everybody or only to HBO premium subscribers?

     

    Vikram: This will be available only to HBO premium customers. This content is offered only as a free value-add to people who have decided to go out and subscribe to the HBO premium service. Conventionally, what used to happen; people would pay for a channel and just get that. But with HBO, for the first time in India, when you pay for the channel, you will not only get the channel but also the free VOD entitlements along with it.

     

    Monica: Please share your views on the genesis of this unique partnership. For the first time, ‘HBO On Demand’ has been brought into the country. Where did it begin and how was the experience?

     

    Vikram: Not only the ‘HBO On Demand’ part but also HBO channels are a complete breakthrough in this country. Nobody else has been able to come out with their high-profile channel which shows you great movies in great picture quality and ad-free. Nobody has that kind of service in the country today.

     

    For us, it is a very big experiment that we genuinely believe in. We have been getting fabulous response from customers about these two channels. And our constant endeavour is to keep thinking what more can we bring to customers.

     

    We have a very well established VOD service today with over 3,000 video titles that we typically sell on a transaction basis or a subscription basis. But you cannot get this content unless you go out and subscribe to the television channels of HBO premium.

     

    We are already getting a large number of calls at our call centres and people want to know more about it. If you check twitter, there are people tweeting about how Tata Sky has brought in a great initiative and we are extremely excited about it.

     

    Monica: What has the response been like and how excited is Tata Sky about the season 4 premiere of the HBO Original Series, Game of Thrones, on HBO Defined?

     

    Vikram: I am a huge fan of Game of Thrones and we are pretty excited about it. It will be an absolutely new audience that we can open up in this country for a Game of Thrones kind of high quality production. I am yet to see anything of this kind of production quality to be put on television. It’s mind-blowing and a new generation, a new kind of crowd is going to open up to this show.

     

    Hence, we are very clear that when we promote season four, it will not be limited to just larger towns but also mid-size and small-size ones. And our communication will say, “Don’t worry if you have missed the first three seasons, why don’t you download from VOD and check it out!”

     

    Monica: Do you think that the dual language proposition is an interesting one and is working well?

     

    Vikram: It is working quite well. Our endeavour is not only limited to people in Mumbai or Delhi. It’s a huge mental block for people in smaller towns who think they won’t be able to catch the accent. The moment they understand that there is a provision to shift to Hindi, it’s a huge comfort to them.

     

    So, ever since we have started promoting the dual-programming concept with HBO, we have seen absolutely fresh households opening up to the entire concept. We have seen a substantial increase in the subscription of the service.

     

    Monica: What do you expect further from this Tata Sky-HBO partnership?

     

    Vikram: Our endeavour is to keep on doing newer things. As a company, we take pride in the fact that we are not just a digital TV service provider. I think there has to be newer things brought to this market, which India has never seen and some of the things globally have never been out here. We believe that in HBO, we have a partner with whom we can go and try these things out. So, we are very excited about making the life of Tata Sky people more ‘Jinga Lala’ with HBO.

  • ‘Hand Pix’ is a dream slot for Hollywood buffs

    ‘Hand Pix’ is a dream slot for Hollywood buffs

    For a television channel, programming is the key to garnering TVTs but passing the litmus test becomes that much harder when you happen to be in a niche space cluttered with other movers and shakers.

    To cut to the chase, being an English movies’ channel is tough, what with ad revenues between Rs 450 and Rs 500 crore and at least 10 players in the reckoning.

    And yet, Multi Screen Media’s English movies’ channel Sony Pix continues to retain its number two spot while aspiring to become number one. So what goes into it?

    Sony Pix VP and programming head Amogh Dusad goes on to explain, “On an average, everybody in the category programmes 100-110 unique movie titles in a month, but the reality of the category is that only the top 400 titles contribute to nearly 70 per cent of the viewership.”

    Pix has survived such a scenario and even emerged the winner because of its clutter-breaking strategies. For instance, the channel never clubs movies under run-of-the-mill festivals like ‘Spectacular 9’, ‘Blockbusters @ 10’ or ‘Action @ 7’. Rather, “We started doing Pixathons, then Pix Doubles, and we have lived up to the challenge of delivering the best franchises and will continue doing so,” says Dusad.

    A new programming block, ‘Hand Pix’ is set to debut tomorrow, where cult movies like The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Angels & Demons (2009), A Few Good Men (1992), Almost Famous (2000), Taxi Driver (1976), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Shutter Island (2010) that appeal to a very niche audience will be aired every Sunday before the 9:00 pm slot. “Hand Pix is a dream slot for a Hollywood movie buff who doesn’t just watch movies but wants to learn and experience them too,” says Dusad.

    The aim is to send out the message, loud and clear, that Sony Pix doesn’t just treat Hollywood movies as American imports but wants to push the envelope in increasing the consumption of English movie content. “We are picking movies that have really strong Hollywood credentials and iconic personalities associated with them in our ‘Hand Pix’ block,” says Dusad. “We want to give viewers the sense that you will get to see great films here. It has been programmed on Sunday evenings before the 9:00 pm slot as a lot of people want to watch exploratory movies during that time.”

    Apart from the slot’s newness, it will also be packaged differently by Sony Pix, where a small synopsis will precede the movie, telling audiences what it’s about and what went into making it.

    “So The Pursuit of Happyness will start off by saying that this is an inspiring story of Christopher Gardner… and we have not yet decided on whether there will just be a slate, or a voice-over as well but it will be a brief 15-20 second band before and during the movie telecast,” Dusad explains. “During the film, we will have loads of trivia around the making and other nitty-gritty to keep the viewers hooked on.”

    Speaking of having a strong competitive edge in referring to the name ‘Pix’ in all programming blocks, he says, “Our word lends itself to actually convert into a vocabulary, so we already have eight programming blocks that have come out of the name of the channel itself.”

    Of the eight, ‘Super Pix’ is the movie of the month, ‘Handy Pix’ showcases iconic movies from Hollywood, ‘Pixipedia’ is the trivia that runs during the movie, ‘Pixathon’ has a movie marathon from the same franchise, ‘Pix Doubles’ usually means the movie and its sequel, and so on. “It’s a cool way to bring association and it basically works on recall and builds association with the channel,” says Dusad.

    Recently, the channel took its ‘Pixathon’ franchise to the next level by airing an animation Pixathon.

    On the planning of the fixed point chart, he says, “The big learning that we have is the combination of TAM data as well as consumer interaction. On an average, a viewer spends only three to four minutes on a channel (in this space), and the movies that work well are those that viewers like to catch over multiple airings.”

    Like other English movie channels, Pix too plays dubbed content as a change from the usual fare. For example, the channel will be airing War of the Arrows, a hit at the Korean box office, to set viewers’ pulses racing. “We pick up content that resonates well with the consumer and they generally look for a break from Bollywood and like to see some change with great visual effects and action. Dubbed content is a good option but we have very few titles as we believe in quality content, and a few of these titles have big names from Hollywood associated with them, like there is True Legend, which has the team of Kill Bill and Matrix associated with it,” elaborates Dusad.

    English movies channels cater to the upwardly mobile young audience, which is the target audience for most aspirational brands in this day and age. This creates a lot of value for advertisers. “Primarily, the English movie space caters to premium audiences with a significant skew to male brands and that is the reality of the category. Within that, whoever finds it relevant for them is pretty much already on the channel. And now that we have risen in viewership, more and more brands are showing keen interest,” Dusad signs off.

     

  • Star Gold’s HD push

    Star Gold’s HD push

    MUMBAI: It’s getting high on High definition (HD). We are referring to the Star network’s Hindi  movie channel Star Gold which has strategically, started premiering movies first on Star Gold HD, then following up with a first airing on its standard definition (SD) service.

    It’s all in the line of giving its viewers a value add.  Explains Star Gold executive VP Hemal Jhaveri: “We are categorically looking at premiering certain content that we have acquired only on Star Gold HD. It’s a very clear vision we have for keeping the FPCs for both the HD and SD feeds very different from one another. If a viewer is going to pay premium prices he deserves something extra, so we figured why not premiere movies, may be a week or even a month in advance, than our SD feeds. We are clearly focused on strengthening our HD portfolio and it does attract and appeal to premium audiences. ”

    Amongst the first films to get this treatment was the Saif Ali Khan starrer Bullett Raja which had its HD premiere on 21 February followed by the SD premier a day later.  Youth centric flick Yaariyan which is to have its SD first run on 21 March at 8 pm premiered on Star Gold HD on 16 March. 

    And Jhaveri is quite buoyed by the viewer feedback that Yaariyan has generated. Says he:  “We have always focused on offering a mix of varied movie genres to our audiences, with entertaining content. Being a youth centric film, Yaariyan has connected very well with the younger generation and with the music being very popular among the audience we are positive of receiving a good response for the premiere.”

    Star India has close to 33 channels in its network. And Jhaveri says it leaves no stone unturned in terms of promoting the big ticket film premieres airing on Star Gold and Star Gold HD on all its channels.  He adds: “We also carry out a 360 degree marketing drive for the movies as well. We treat each movie on its merit, some require heavier push with on-air promotions and some would require a separate campaign. So each movie is treated on its content merit.”

    Jhaveri believes the HD premiere tack will work well on the advertising front. Says he: “We are really sure that more and more brands will want to reach out to premiere customers through our HD feed. It’s been great in terms of qualitative feedback and we are confident of building more traction for our HD portfolio.”

    Meanwhile, he points out that the network is going easy on handing out fat cheques to buy films this year as the market is overheated.  “We have already made enough acquisitions last year but as far as this year is concerned we are going to be really selective and to a certain extent not really acquire any movie,” discloses Jhaveri. “For the first time you will see a lot of unsold movies in the market, so we are just being very stringent in the content we acquire for this year and will do so only if the need arises. ” 

    Star Gold has a movie library of 1,100 titles which it shares with its sister channel Movies OK. In 2012, the network had acquired over 500 films from the Viacom 18 group followed by the deal with superstars Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn in early 2013 for all their films till 2017.  Additionally, the network signed a deal for other exciting movies for its 2014 movies line up. Some of the high profile premieres slated for the year include: Jai Ho, Kick, Bombay Velvet, Bang Bang, Roy, Action Jackson, Singham 2, Hamshakals, Bobby Jasoos and Creature.

    To its credit is the information tidbit that the network has successfully premiered the maximum number of Rs 100 crore Bollywood films, including blockbusters such as Singham, Bodyguard, Ra.One, Housefull 2, Bol Bachchan, Son of Sardaar, Dabangg 2 and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

    The telecast of Yaariyan should help nudge its viewership – which saw a slippage last week -up.   Star Gold SD received 164,983 GVTs in week 10 of TAM ratings against 176,596 GVTs in week 9 (-11,613) even as sister channel Movies OK generated 130,606 GVTs in week 10 against 116,767 GVTs (-13,839).