MUMBAI: Optical disc major Moser Baer, which entered the home video market earlier this year, has lately been aggressive on the acquisition front. While earlier the agenda was to pocket as many home video titles as possible, now even satellite rights of films have been on the company’s radar.
Within five months of stepping into the home video market, Moser Baer managed to become the largest player in the space. Initially even while it acquired rights for older films, emphasis was also laid on newer acquisitions.
Now with Anil Sharma’s Apne, Moser Baer acquired not only the home video but also the satellite and digital rights. This created curiosity as to whether the launch of a television channel is possibly the next step for the content owners to leverage their acquisition?
However, the company is selling these satellite rights to various other movie channels. “We recently sold the satellite rights of Apne to Star," says Moser Baer Entertainment CEO Harish Dayani. Sources inform the deal was sealed for an amount close to Rs 70 million (Rs 7 crores).
The film released theatrically on 29 June and the satellite rights have been sold almost a month later. Elucidating further Dayani says, “We will not sell the satellite rights of films to channels immediately after their acquisition. We would assess the selling rate depending on the box office performance of the film.”
The company is actively looking at acquiring the satellite rights of many upcoming movies along with their home video rights.
In a scenario wherein production houses like Eros International and Yash Raj Films sell the satellite rights of almost all their movies Sony Entertainment Television; Moser Baer is open to selling the rights to any channel. “We are open to selling the satellite rights of the movies that we acquire to any channel,” he says.
Players like Shemaroo Entertainment also acquire the satellite rights of films along with their home video rights. With Moser Baer also stepping into the fray, the stakes are only going to get bigger.
