In September, Intel Capital funded Verismo Networks, launched Mela, a global multi-platform consumer entertainment service with premium South Asian video content. Sab Kanaujia, previously VP (Digital) at NBC Universal, who was involved with the launch of Hulu, joined the company has President (Entertainment Services). Mela isn't the first digital video venture trying to tap the South Asian market - many have launched and either failed and shut down, changed their target market or have just not been able to scale. Excerpts from a recent interview with Kanaujia: MediaNama: What is Mela doing differently from what so many other sites have done - like Tinselvision had done. Where do you think you'll succeed where they failed? Kanaujia: The idea is not new. Hulu, Netflix is the same idea, and the market is already there. That is pretty clear... MediaNama: That's exactly what I'm wondering - is there a market? Kanaujia: There is a market. There are two things that you can measure a market by Ernst & Young estimated that the Indian content industry loses $4Bn on piracy, and $1Bn in the US itself. Even today, the vast majority of people, if they want to watch a movie, they walk into their local grocery store and pick up a pirated movie for $2-3. In New York and the Bay Area, there are some theatres which do release new movies, but there are only few theatres and they only release 10-20% of the movies made in India. The traditional distribution for niche content - it's not mainstream…
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