MUMBAI: BMD Group, one of South India’s business houses have ventured into the media and entertainment business, under its new division and banner Air Media Technologies.

At a press conference held in the city, the company formally launched its operations in the presence of Karti P Chidambaram, member of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and a keen observer of the media and entertainment segment.

Air Media also unveiled its exclusive IP and India’s first non-mythological animation character that will appeal to a global audience, called ‘Tusker’, at the conference. The integrated media venture will focus on live 2D & 3D animation, feature film production, multi-lingual cinema trading, production of innovative TV concepts & serials and distribution of national and overseas titles among other offerings.

Air Media has already acquired the dubbing rights of more than 400 titles that will be sold in India over the next 3-4 years. Apart from this, the first Tamil movie produced by AIR MEDIA is slated for release in January 2008 and final negotiations are under way to sign another South Indian feature film.

Air Media, CEO and BMD Group, Chairman, S.Baskar said, As a group when we looked at opportunities to diversify and grow, we saw huge potential in the media and entertainment segment and this has been validated by the immense growth in the last 2 years and the entry of large companies into the segment. India has a natural advantage, being the world’s largest producer and consumer of films and Chennai is emerging to be a hub for entertainment technology & innovation. In this context, we expect Air Media to become a key business and revenue contributor to the group. We have invested over eight crores initially, sourced from internal accruals and are targeting an estimated revenue of Rs 100 crores by 2010. We are also building a highly professional core team with complementing skill sets.”

Noted Tamil cinema director and creative head of Air Media, Thakali Srinivasan added, “Air Media is committed to developing its own intellectual properties for the international market. We will focus on a niche and are not looking at mature or cluttered spaces. We are working closely on innovative concepts in co-production and independent production of Feature Films, Short Films & TV Serials and trading of multi-lingual content. Air Media has a well equipped animation studio that will provide international quality digital media content to its customers.”