MUMBAI: UTV has launched its new business vertical UTV Palador at FICCI this evening. Under the brand name of Olive Collection, this initiative will have over 1000 film titles from 20 countries. UTV will be investing Rs 700 million (Rs 70 crore) for acquiring 1000 titles across 20 countries.
Speaking exclusively to Businessofcinema.com at FICCI FRAMES 2007, UTV Palador managing director Gautam Shiknis informed, “The company will be investing Rs 700 million (Rs 70 crore) for content acquisition. This market turnover is expected to be Rs 3 billion (Rs 300 crore) by 2009, which is 20 per cent of the Rs 15 billion (Rs 1500 crore) non Indian language movie sagment.”
The Olive Collection will host films from countries like France, Japan, China, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Brazil, Argentina, which are counted in the league of most important films ever made in the history of world cinema.
Screwvala adds, “It is our vision to ensure that quality cinema is not a one off event at limited location but a regular part of India’s entertainment industry. In addition, this is an extremely high potential category with no significant competition in the horizon.”
UTV and Palador are planning on exploiting this content over various platforms including theatrical releases, home video release and satellite telecast. On 13 April the theatrical release of these films will be seen across Adlabs cinemas in Mumbai and Pune. “Every year we are planning on releasing 150 world cinema movies. For promotion 30 – 50 tickets will be given out free at Adlabs for a period of six weeks,” adds Shiknis.
The films will be released in Delhi, Bangalore and Calcutta in the second phase.
Apart from this, UTV Palador also plans to launch a special television channel called Olive TV and also a Olive DVD label for the same. “While the channel will be launched in about six – eight months, the DVD label will be launched in April this year,” informs UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala. The DVDs will be priced at Rs 799.
The Olive Colelction will have director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra as its brand ambassador and partner.
