Ownership of IP is turning out a big incentive for producers to switch to online streaming services, and might end up forcing a change in how TV producers work with them. In its earnings conference call, music and entertainment company Saregama said that they'll be getting into film production, and the approach is in consonance with their philosophy of owning the intellectual property of the content that they create. It is also why they're working with Sun TV as a broadcaster, and have stopped making Hindi TV serials. "The good part", about working with SUN TV, Saregama MD Vikram Mehra said, "is that Sun TV allows content producers to retain the IP of the serials that we are creating". "We worked last year also making content for Hindi TV serials. We have decided to completely stop that part because the IP is not retained by us. Hindi TV channels do not allow content producer to retain in the IP hence we do not want to pursue that any longer." The company, at any given time, runs 3-4 serials on Sun TV, which are profitable. However, Saregama doesn't see that business scaling in the short run. Meanwhile, Saregama is getting into film production: not the "big filmy Bollywood" type, but into thematic films under the Yoodlee films banner, which, according to Mehra, "are practically zero on star cast, will have very limited theatre release". Instead, "where the big market for it will be sitting with these large content platforms like Netflix,…
