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Tag: Goldmines Telefilms

  • Goldmines Telefilms goes big with Dhinchaak, aims to cover 90% HSM market

    Goldmines Telefilms goes big with Dhinchaak, aims to cover 90% HSM market

    MUMBAI: Goldmines Telefilms recently reached a new milestone with the launch of its free to air (FTA) Hindi movie channel Dhinchaak on India’s only FTA DTH platform DD Free Dish on 24 May 2020. Within three months of its launch, the channel rose through the ranks to become number one, that too in a highly competitive category with 30 plus rivals. Dhinchaak is now a leading movie channel in both the Hindi speaking market (HSM) overall (U+R) and rural market.

    In a chat with indiantelevision.com, Goldmines Telefilms director Manish Shah said that the company had participated in an auction of DD Free Dish and they were all set to go on air from 1 April 2020. But as the nationwide lockdown was imposed from 16 March, Shah was not able to launch Dhinchaak on time.

    “It has been a very exciting journey along with a lot of stress and we went into a scenario where everyone was working from home. It called for a lot of efforts. But since I have been running Goldmines Telefilms for the past 15 years and I have a better understanding of content, we know what audiences want and what they prefer,” added Shah.

    Dhinchaak came in on the number five spot with 48 GRPs in its first reported data in week 31, and grew steadily over the subsequent months to reach a 73 GRP mark in the week ending 1 October. The movie channel has been consistent, being the number one ranked channel for the last four weeks in HSM 2+ Overall and the HSM FTA Category. Five out of the top 10 movies in week 38 and 39 in HSM 2+ and nine out of the top ten movies in HSM rural in week 37 were from Dhinchaak.

    The channel is currently available on DD Free Dish, Dish TV, Tata Sky, DAN, Hathaway and InDigital cable among other distribution platform operators in India.

    Looking at the big picture

    Over the years, Goldmines Telefilms has become one of the biggest players in terrestrial television rights. The studio has assigned the satellite rights of many movies to major channels in the Hindi movie industry with a success ratio of over 80 per cent, said Shah. He is interested in designing content that can be watched by the entire family together. According to Shah, Goldmines has covered 70 per cent of the Indian market and the rest 30 per cent will be swept up in due course of time.  

    The company already has a powerful digital presence, with 15 channels and 42 million subscribers for the main Goldmines Telefilms channel on YouTube, and an ever-growing digital revenue model, revealed Shah.

    Besides having the biggest library of south Indian movies, Goldmines has also been a pioneer in their dubbing. But Shah is now looking at the big picture: he will distribute his content pan India, with Hindi-speaking market being the prime focus. He mentioned that the studio has covered 90 per cent of the Bihar and Madhya Pradesh segment whereas for Uttar Pradesh it is at 70 per cent. Till December, Shah aims to have a distribution model that will attract 90 per cent of the audiences.

    Read more stories on Goldmine Telefilms

    Content is king

    Elucidating more about syndication and acquisition of content, Shah said that the channel has a library of 2000+ blockbuster titles. From time-tested chartbusters like Sarrainodu, DJ, Kanchana, Kanchana 2, Theri, Bhairava, Betting Raja, they also have a slew of world television premieres lined up. Apart from dubbed south Indian movies Dhinchaak will also screen Hindi movies like Badhaai Ho, Kalank, Gentleman, India’s Most Wanted, Mohenjo Daro, among others.

    During the pandemic, the studio opted a digital route to acquire content. As of now the studio will continue using its own library to showcase movies on Dhinchaak but Shah is willing to source content from other production houses as well. However, he is clear that he will not syndicate his movies to anyone. Whatever content they have it is only for their channel. He considers Sony Max, Zee Cinema, Star Gold as their closest competitor.

    On marketing and monetisation

    As far as marketing and promotion are concerned, the Goldmines director is looking at organically growing the channel. “We have not spent a single amount on promotions, I always believed that your growth has to be organic. I am extremely happy with the responses that I receive. We do promotions through our own social media platforms. On YouTube we have 100 million views a day. Based on audience response, we create our content. Across all platforms we have 10,000 videos uploaded. On Facebook we are growing 100 per cent on a month-on-month basis. We are also present on Amazon, MX Player and other similar platforms,” he said.

    Shah is confident that with the help of Siddharth Chopra, who heads the revenue department for the network, he will be able to associate with major brands. Chopra’s last stint was with Times Network, where he was VP and national sales head of the English entertainment cluster. Shah also admitted that as of now the channel is not being monetized, but he is currently in talks with various advertisers and expects they will be onboard by mid-October.

  • Goldmines Telefilms’ Manish Shah denies hanky-panky deals with Sony India

    Goldmines Telefilms’ Manish Shah denies hanky-panky deals with Sony India

    MUMBAI: It seemed to be a day no different than any other for Goldmines Telefilms director Manish Shah as he got ready to go to his office in a rather non-descript building in the suburb of Goregaon west in Mumbai. At around 9 am, the film syndication specialist got a call from someone he knew that he had been mentioned in a newspaper report about alleged business malpractices at Sony India’s MSM network. It intrigued him but not enough to pull him away from his daily schedule of placing calls to clients and to broadcasters about the films he had acquired and wanted to pitch to them.

     

    Then he got a call from us at Indiantelevision.com requesting to meet him. He agreed but wanted an hour and a half to himself before speaking to us. He ordered a few copies of the newspaper and spent time reading the Bloomberg report over and over again until we arrived. The Bloomberg report stated that Sony Corp was investigating possible irregularities in business dealings following an anonymous email to Sony Pictures Television world wide networks president Andy Kaplan. The letter, which reached Kaplan on 6 October, stated that “the head of MSM’s motion-pictures unit was colluding with an agent to raise the cost of movies that Sony bought to air on TV by as much as 35 per cent in return for kickbacks.”

     

    And that agent was Manish Shah, who was once a television producer of both Gujarati and Marathi shows for channels such as Alpha Marathi (part of the Zee group), ETV Gujarati and Hungama before finding his mettle in buying and selling film rights to broadcasters and building a business in excess of Rs 100 crore. He hit jackpot with the regional films he acquired and dubbed them in Hindi, paying attention to creative detail.

     

    Shah welcomed us in offered us a cup of coffee and then began speaking his mind, pooh-poohing the allegations made against him. Said he, “The allegations are absolute crap. There is no question about us being favoured or dealing in kickbacks. Rajani was an extremely tough negotiator; in fact she would hammer down my prices when I started doing business with Sony in 2004. So what are they talking about me being offered inflated prices in exchange for kickbacks? I meet Sneha only rarely; there was a time when I met her more often. But I meet the folks at Star India more for the film titles I own.”

     

    Shah pointed out that Sony Entertainment – though a good client – is not amongst his biggest. “Last year Sony bought Rs 10 crore worth movies from me, UTV bought Rs 14 crore movies, while Star bought Rs 16 crore of movies. So what are you talking about? Last year Sony bought just three movies from me.”

     

    He added, “I don’t know where this has all come from. Sony is investigating the matter, let them do that. I can only say that if any broadcaster has to look at the return on investment, my movies give the maximum ROI. Whether it is for Star, or UTV or Sony.”

     

    Shah furnished tables and charts, which showed that close to 50 per cent of the FPC on Max was occupied by Goldmines syndicated films for about five days each week. “But it is these movies that are working for the channel and the network, giving them a good return on their investment. I know what works and the regional language films, which have a lot of action, humour and entertainment work. And I have given a substantial number of films to Sony, but my prices have been hammered by the acquisition people,” he said.

     

    For Shah it is a clear business model. “I buy the movie, which gets the rating or is successful and then offer it to broadcasters for satellite rights whether it is Zee, Star, Colors or Sony. Whoever gives me the best deal, I offer the movie to them,” he proffered.

     

    His company has been working with Sony and Zee since 2004, with Doordarshan since 2005 and with Star since 2006. “Once I have the rights, I am the owner of the movie and so I decide who will get it based on price,” he said. “But this process does not involve kickbacks at all so how can I get kickbacks? Broadcasters today are smart and they know which movie will work for them and they want it at the best price. I totally deny any of allegations that have been made against me.”

  • Sony admits it is investigating its India operations

    Sony admits it is investigating its India operations

    MUMBAI: Sony Corp has admitted that investigations are on at its India unit – Multi Screen Media (MSM) – for alleged corruption in business practices.

     

    In an email sent out to media, Sony Corp today stated that “this investigation is ongoing… Sony Pictures is strongly committed to business ethics and the investigation of allegations of wrongdoing that might arise anywhere in the world. If wrongdoing is identified, we take appropriate action.”

     

    The Sony Pictures Entertainment email was sent out in response to a Bloomberg report on alleged business malpractices at MSM based on emails leaked following the hack on the electronics and entertainment giant’s IT infrastructure late last year.

     

    The Bloomberg report stated that the leaked emails revealed that Sony ordered an investigation, led by Ernst & Young, to look into its India business practices, which in turn revealed evidence of wrongdoing. And the hacked emails revealed that E&Y had allegedly uncovered fraudulent business practices in the case of the Sony and Discovery Communications joint venture (TheOneAlliance). Cases of fraudulent bids, kickback and excessive handouts to government officials came to light in the investigation by E&Y, said the Bloomberg report.

     

    It may be recalled that the Sony-Discovery JV company – TheOneAlliance – was allegedly dissolved on 1 January, 2015 due to the new regulations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which stated that distributors could no longer bundle channels from different broadcasters while selling content to various platforms such as cable operators and direct-to-home (DTH) companies.

     

    Additionally, as per the Bloomberg report, an email from Sony Pictures Entertainment senior vice-president and compliance counsel Cindy Salmen  in early October stated that “further investigations be conducted, employees be re-trained and that some workers face disciplinary actions, including termination.”

     

    She cited four areas of concern in a memo, the Bloomberg report states. The first related to TheOneAlliance as a distributor of television channels to cable TV or DTH operators. The second to carriage or retransmission fees.  The third was linked to potential gifts and entertainment to government officials.  And finally the fourth referred to customs payments.  All these were investigated by E&Y.

     

    And on the first area of concern, the probe revealed that the process of appointing vendors for distribution through competitive bids was suspect. In some instances some of those who bid did not exist and those who won had ties to those who lost. Employees were aware of the practice, the Bloomberg report has the memo saying.

     

    E&Y stated that it received allegations that both MSM and MSM Discovery were receiving kickbacks from cable TV operators and distributors ranging from 10-15 per cent of carriage fees.  This apart, MSM Discovery recruited employees who were fired by other rivals for receiving kickbacks. 

     

    On the third probe, the memo pointed out that government officials were given expensive IPL tickets and laptop bags, much beyond the MSM Discovery limits.  As far as payments to customs by MSM Discovery’s marketing group were concerned, the memo stated that E&Y found some communication which was questionable.

     

    Sony Pictures senior vice president for global investigative and forensic services Raymond Smith had called for an investigation with regards to the alleged malpractices and policy violations in September. Emails from him revealed that he was planning to travel to India along with his colleague Mike Ornelas (executive director for global investigative and forensic services) to investigate the matter in October 2014, said the Bloomberg report.

     

    The report added that the leaked emails disclosed that “alleged” corruption at MSM as well was being investigated. This followed  an anonymous email to Sony Pictures Television worldwide networks president Andy Kaplan and to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment boss Man Jit Singh who headed  the India venture until last year.  The email alleged that MSM India deputy president Sneha Rajani was allegedly routing all movie acquisitions for the channel via an external agent namely Manish Shah of Goldmines Telefilms, which in turn raised the cost of buying by as much as 35 per cent. The email further alleged that Rajani also communicated to movie producers, who wanted to sell satellite rights for their films, to route their proposals through Shah.

     

    When Indiantelevision.com contacted MSM officials no one was willing to come on record. But a senior manager called the allegations against Rajani as a total fabrication or motivated by a disgruntled fired employee. 

     

    Goldmines Telefilms owner Shah stated that “it was a bunch of crap. Let the investigations continue. I have been dealing with all the broadcasters not just Sony. So I am not worried. We have been very transparent.”

     

    No one was available to comment from MSM Discovery at the time of writing the report.

     

    With heavy charges of malpractice and company policy violations, it remains to be seen what the outcome of the probe throws up and more importantly, what it means for the people, whose names are involved.