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The Direct To Home have adopted a new step for fighting piracy by telecasting the latest Bollywood movies at very nominal cost, a few days after these movies hit the theatres.
Tata Sky is now offering the latest Salman Khan- Kareena Kapoor-starrer ‘Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna’ from today. This movie had hit the silver screens only last Frday.
"Today Tata Sky has become one of the most preferred DTH platforms in the country for broadcasters to premiere their latest blockbusters as it offers them a much wider reach and, most importantly, enables them to kill privacy," said Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer of Tata Sky Ltd.
Some of the movies which have been telecasted by Tata Sky include ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Kaminey’, ‘Agyaat’ and ‘What's Your Raashee?’.
What’s Your Rashee? was telecasted within two weeks it hit the screens on Tata Sky, followed by its telecast over other DTH operators like Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV and Big TV. Shahid Kapur-starrer Kaminey also was telecasted by Tata Sky for a minimal Rs. 75 per day, within a month of its release.
The reaction was equally overwhelming with about 150,000 people watching Slumdog Millionaire over a period of three days on Tata Sky. Kaminey had 100,000 watchers with What’s Your Rashee having about 20,000 Tat Sky viewers alone.
"All the blockbusters have been widely appreciated by our subscribers across the country, including smaller towns and we expect movie-watching on DTH to increase," said Mehra.
DTH players share revenues with the producers.
The premiers of movies like Chintujia and ‘Vaada Raha...I Promise’ were telecasted on the same day of release on the Pay Per View (PPV) service 'Showcase' of Tata Sky at a cost of Rs.75 and Rs.100 respectively.
Vikram Kaushik, managing director and CEO of Tata Sky Ltd, said the company is trying to popularise the concept of simultaneous release on DTH.
"I have been talking to some forward- looking producers like Aamir Khan and Ronnie Screwvala and suggesting to them to have a same day release on Tata Sky as in the theatres. It's a very positive thing to do and I hope the producers will have the courage to actually participate and come forward and think about it," Kaushik told.
When asked about the negative impact of this on theatres, "It will not affect either of the two markets. It will kill piracy because if it releases on DTH, you collect legitimate revenue and pay for it. As a result the producers get paid, the distribution platform gets its share and piracy is eliminated," said Kaushik.
"This will also change the nature of distribution. Addressable platforms are about getting real value - 100 percent declaration and genuine revenue sharing."
Tata Sky's new avatar Tata Sky Plus offers a Private Video Recorder (PVR) facility for its consumers and it curbs piracy too. There are movies like Phir Kabhi, which was released directly on DTH alone.
"Releasing 'Phir Kabhi' directly on our platform may start a new trend of films being made specifically for DTH audiences," Salil Kapoor, COO of Dish TV, had said.
Kaushik said: "We are experimenting right now. A whole series of options will find a pattern and each one of them will also come with their respective pricing."
Kaushik also hinted that a same-day release will possibly exceed the current pay per view price that varies from Rs.25-100 across various DTH platforms.
"We'll have to do a bit of market research and test the waters in terms of what is the right price. But if you get to watch it (a movie) with five of your family members for Rs.400, it's cheaper than going to the multiplex and you can save money on fuel and help global warming. All of it works," he said.
India has six major DTH players - Tata Sky, Dish TV, Reliance Big TV, Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct DTH and the recently launched Videocon D2H.
