MUMBAI: Channel surfing for movies on television is a chore of the past. Now the best movies in Hindi and English that are available on TV will be sent to your mobile inbox free of charge.
MyToday Dailies, the world’s largest media-on-mobile has collaborated with ZipAZap.com, India’s largest online TV Guide service to sort, rate, and SMS the best movies to watch on TV (all channels) every evening at no cost to the user.
All users need to do is to sms START ENGMOV or START HINDIMOV to 098453 98453 and they will get an update on the three best movies that are playing on the various channels everyday.
"We ran a pilot test within our existing base of around three million subscribers and are very happy with the response. All early signs gave us a thumbs-up from TV viewers across cable and DTH," says MyToday Dailies CEO Abhijit Saxena. "Seeing the response, we are inclined to introduce more such value added services in the field of entertainment in the near future, through our new alliance with ZipAZap TV Program Guide," he added.
Welcoming this initiative and reacting to its potential, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said, "It’s a great idea, both for the entertainment industry and a great service to the consumers! Services like MyToday Alerts will drive viewership of movies on television and help the industry."
Research has shown that a multitude of viewers tend to forget when to watch what channel for their favorite movies and often end up missing telecasts. It will be easier for viewers to remember movies on television with these alerts.
Channels will find this a useful tool to attract the right audience and advertisers will benefit from increased viewership of their ads.
Film producer Boney Kapoor says, "The Satellite broadcast rights have become a vital portion of the revenue model for all producers, and services (like MyToday SMS) which help remind audiences of movies played on satellite channels only extends the greens. The greener, the better! I may even include usage of this service when I sell the rights of my movies to channels."
"While we have started with movies, soon this service will, on a daily basis, issue advisories on the best fare on TV across different programs including sitcoms, reality serials and other programming. Soon these services will become ancillaries of the system with sms alert to viewers before the movie starts to garner viewership, " said MediaE2E CEO and chief evangelist Atul Phadnis. MediaE2E has conceived and launched ZipAZap TV Guide.
Selection of the best movies is based on the film’s popularity – both in the box-office as well as the traffic on ZipAZap.com. Recommendations will be matched with user feedback to ensure that the right choices are being given to the viewers.
