TinselVision’s Closure Should Serve As A Warning For Video Content Portals

South Asian content site TinselVision has shut shop, reports PaidContent. Tinselvision had signed numberous deals, including with Zee TV, STAR India, Zoom TV, NDTV, UTV and even Yash Raj Films. Tinselvision began with offering Bollywood videos on download for $1.99, with membership priced at $9.99. Movies were priced at $3 each, with $10 for 5 movies. 

Eventually, the company took some content outside the paid subscription wall, and made some available for advertising supported free streaming. Remember that earlier this year, niche TV content site Jump TV had decided change focus from regional content to sports content.

The shutting down of TinselVision should also serve as a warning for other content streaming sites like Saavn, Big Flicks, Rajshri Media, Erosondem, Rediff iShare, among others. Most content owners may be giving them content for free, though some may be accepting a minimum guarantee, but bandwidth is a significant cost. Monetization via advertising hasn’t yet quite arrived, despite claims of significant paid downloads, and some projections for video advertising networks. The launch of video advertising networks like Jivox and VDOPIA should help, but given the current advertising market scenario, are advertisers biting?

Users are forever willing to view free content, but growth in viewership should be supported by the growth in revenues. Saying that the world will figure out a business model doesn’t really inspire confidence.

More on Tinselvision:

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At IAMAI-DE08: Digital Vs Stars; And As The Source Of All Evil

Two of the more interesting perspectives on Digital Entertainment at the IAMAI Conference came during the first panel of the day, which focused on films going digital:

PS Saminathan, Group Chairman, Pyramid Saimira initially launched into a tirade against the star system in film-making - “Stars collapse the system - they don’t give a damn about the system. They sometimes started charging over 150% of the total revenues of the films - I can give you an example of 142 films where that has happened. A star demands a glam heroine, scenes to be shot in Switzerland, on the moon, free tickets for the film for his fan club. Producers have become performers and arrangers. This is a system where sycophancy can be blamed. Corporates came and thought that we could put an end to the star system; we thought that when you aggregate the last mile through digital distribution, we’ll get control. True in theory, but in practice, when you aggregate theatres, stars demand even more. Unfortunately, in India, stars guarantee the movie, and corporates become content aggregators at the worst scale.”

“Will digital technology be an answer to that? It’s a system where the content is being pulled by the customers, rather than content being pushed by people. Apple is the largest music seller; YouTube is a very powerful medium. Today there’s a shift towards self produced content, and the business model, might become a pull business model. How will companies react?
– Big institution power will vanish - they’ll have to become agnostic platforms, and the people will select the users. In our organization, we don’t pass comments on the quality of content. If it’s accepted by users, it’s good content.
– Money will not become a commodity, creativity will not become a commodity. Money was becoming a commodity in India, but that has changed. Creativity is equal to acceptance of people. Creativity is not a commodity. Technology will change the traditional institutions. If customer wants bad actors - they’ll get them.

So while Saminathan looked to digital with, well, “Hope”, Navin Shah, CEO of Percept Pictures considered it a weapon of mass destruction:

“Digital is the culprit. If you look at PWC report, the music industry has grown by 2% over the last 5-6 years. Digital is growing by 40%. So much about piracy being curbed - Digital is instrumental in creating huge piracy, because it is very simple. Earlier, I used to be like a mafia thing. (more…)

MovieBeam To Be Launched For Consumers In India, Hospitality Sector In US

Rajesh Mishra, CEO (India) of UFO Moviez said at the IAMAI Digital Entertainment conference yesterday that the company intends to launch MovieBeam in India in around 6 months. Moviebean is essentially a push video on demand service, which requires a separate set-top-box. “If there are four films releasing this weekend, I’ll push those films to you. There’s no streaming, and you will be able to watch a first day first show at home. This model can earn as much as Rs. 5 crores for 1 show.” Well, we’ll leave the projections aside for a while, given that MovieBeam hardly found any buyers in the US…

Responding to our question on how UFO Moviez intends to make a service that has failed miserably in the US, work in India, Mishra said that while the techonology was right, the business model wasn’t. MovieBeam will soon be launched with a different business model for the Hospitality sector in the US, and in India, they’ll focus on making the service more viable. Why would the user pay for yet another set-top-box? “They may not have to. Even Digital Cinema distribution did not work in the US, but we made it work in India,” Mishra told me at the sidelines of the conference. The MovieBeam box in India may also come with a number of additional features - like DVD storage and Internet connectivity, though UFO will have to establish a return path for Internet.

More on the MovieBeam acquisition here.  

Rajshri Media Gets T-Series Content; Sets Up Regional Offices In Delhi, Chennai; More To Follow

Updated below
Rajshri Media has inked a deal with T-Series, the largest aggregator of music content in India, to “promote the Bollywood titles of T-Series” on its video-on-demand web streaming site Rajshri.com. In a sense, this deal echoes a similar deal that Rajshri Media had struck with Eros International to share short form streaming content - song clippings, promos and movie scenes.

How does this help? Well, the timing is apt - T-Series has just released a movie called Karzz, and they’ll look at the music videos and promos as a means of promoting the movie. Much of the buzz is around new movies when they’re released - take a look at Google trends for Himesh and Karzz, and you’ll notice a recent spike in search queries. Rajshri will look to use the fresh content to attract viewers for their library of film content.

Do note that T-Series appears to have a tie-up Rediff’s iShare as well, but I don’t think they’ve announced it - their movie promos section features videos from Karzz.

I wonder if these are just barter deals - one gets promo content, the other publicity, or is there money and a revenue share involved. If you know - do tell.

Update from Rajshri Media:

The company has set up offices in Delhi and Chennai. Operating out of Delhi on the Ad Sales side are Ajay Bandhoo and Shobhit Agarwal, from Exchange4Media and ClickJobs respectively, while Ravneet Munjal, formerly with the India Today Group, is heading Content Acquisition. In Chennai, Palaniappan has going to look after content acquisition, with an eye on adding more regional content. Rajshri Media also intends to expand its presence to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata soon. In Mumbai, they’ve appointed Shashank Sathe as the CTO, and Vishnu Kant Gokul as VP for Ad Sales. COO Ravi Nalappa and CTO William D’Souza moved out a few months ago.

On the content front, Rajshri Media has also added content from  Web18, and will feature Bollywood film reviews from film critic Rajiv Vijayakar.

Related: Rajshri - Eros Deal

Adlabs Gets Into The Digital Cinema Business

While Bharti Airtel is still considering the digital cinema business, Adlabs has announced plans for digitizing 500 cinema screens over the next 18 months, reports ET. Adlabs has access to Reliance Communications’ optic fibre network, and also plans to leverage the network owned by Reliance Globalcom (FLAG Telecom), for global digital distribution. Adlabs Digital Cinema, with Patrick von Sychowski as its COO, is encoding the films at DAKC in Mumbai.

The model for digital distribution used by UFO Moviez and Pyramid Saimira involved encryption of films, and then distribution of the content via satellite to theatres. A setup at the theatres would decrypt and project the film on screen. The same will probably apply to Adlabs, except that the distribution will be via an optical fibre network, not satellite. Digital Distribution enables exhibition of content in remote areas, particularly on the day of the release. Earlier, prints were distributed physically, where there was a risk of theft and piracy, and remote areas would be able to screen the films much later than a city release.

This move by Adlabs highlights the advantages of being present across the value chain for ADAG: keep in mind that Pyramid Saimira pulled out of the business in 33 theatres in India, citing a lack of viability.

Also check out: Adlabs Digital Cinema COO Patrick von Sychowski’s blog, here.

Related:

- Pyramid Saimira Winds Up Film Distribution In India; Defers Reel Acquisition
– Airtel Considering The Digital Cinema Business
– UFO Moviez Group Buys Defunct VoD Service MovieBeam

Pyramid Saimira Winds Up Film Distribution In India; Defers Reel Acquisition

Citing high inflation, slackening of demand for entertainment and constraints of margins in leisure industry, Pyramid Saimira is tightening its belt.

The company, which has digital film distribution operations (details), has informed the BSE that given the un-viable cost structure of the Hindi film industry, they are closing down 33 screens and winding up their film exhibition division in Western and Northern parts of India. Reuters quotes Chairman P.S. Saminathan: “We were losing money there, so we withdrew from these areas. We expect the (filmed entertainment) industry will not grow much this year.”

That’s a warning sign for the films business, and and some food for thought for the Digital Distribution business. Remember that Airtel is exploring the Digital Distribution business, and the only two competitors they have in India are UFO Moviez and Pyramid Saimira.

Pyramid Saimira has also decided to drop plans for acquisitions in UK and Europe. Earlier this month, they were reported to be in talks with UK’s Reel Cinema. Reel operates 13 cinemas in the UK - with mostly cult films - and has plans to open seven more in the next two years. Saimira may also defer its $75 million fundraising plans, adds Reuters.

Operations in Malaysia and the USA will continue, given better profitability, as will their film exhibition business in China: they had inaugurated their first theatre in China last week, as a part of a joint venture with the Ministry of Culture.

Related:

– UFO Moviez Group Buys Defunct VoD Service MovieBeam
– Airtel Considering The Digital Cinema Business

Reliance ADA Group Inks BIG $1.2 Billion Dreamworks Deal

The Reliance ADA Group and the principals of Dreamworks - director Steven Spielberg and CEO Stacey Snider - have inked a deal to form a $1.2 billion studio, reports WSJ. Of this amount, the ADA Group will invest $500 million in equity, and $700 million in debt through JP Morgan Chase. The ADA Group, according to the Hollywood Reporter (THR), will have a 50 percent stake in the deal.

The deal has been struck through Reliance Entertainment, according to Business Standard. In 2005, Reliance ADAG had acquired 51 percent stake in Adlabs Films, which produces films, and also owns multiplex theatres. Last year, they acquired Pune based animation company Anirights, which has been rebranded as BIG Animation

The studio will produce around six films a year. Dreamworks reportedly intends to strike a deal with Time Warner for HBO, and the films may be distributed by Universal Pictures. There are, however, expected to be a few teething troubles: Dreamworks was sold to Viacom in 2006, and Spielberg and Snider have had disagreements with Paramount Pictures. Dreamworks is expected to negotiate for rights to keep one or more projects that they were working on with Paramount, for the new company. That, it is expected, will come at a price. There are around 150 Dreamworks executives currently with Paramount, and while David Geffer, Spielberg and Snider had exit clauses, the rest will need Paramounts permission.

George Soros Connection? Paramount had sold controlling interest in its Dreamworks acquisition for $900 million to the Soros Group and Dune Capital in May 2006. Remember that Reliance Entertainment is expected to raise $100 million from George Soros…though there have been reports of issues over valuation.