The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to issue tender forms for broadcasting rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the coming week. According to industry sources, the winner might have to fork out over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for a five year telecast rights.
Sony Entertainment Television is bringing back once-a-week serials as it readies to launch up to 10 new shows in the next seven months.
Prime Focus, a post-production and visual effects service company is close to acquiring a special effects studio situated on the west coast of United States. The deal size is reportedly pegged at around $100 million or under Rs 400 crore. Prime Focus is a leading integrated post production and visual effects services company.
INX Media, the company set up by Indrani Mukherjea, wife of ex-Star Group CEO Peter Mukherjea, has roped in three top advertisers -- Vodafone, Reliance Industries and Future Group -- for their Hindi entertainment channel 9X. Each of these advertisers are believed to be paying Rs 35-40 crore (Rs 350-400 million) for a three-year contract. The television broadcaster has formed Club INX, which will include corporates keen to advertise on the channel.
As a sign of things to come, Future Media, the media arm of the group, recently launched a women's magazine, My World, priced at Rs 25, given away as gratis to shoppers at Future Group stores (Pantaloon, Big Bazaar, etc) spending over Rs 1,500. The company plans to launch a magazine each quarter.
For instance, while Digitial Media Convergence -- a part of ESSEL Group (promoter of ZEE TV) -- provides the mobile TV (also known as the fourth screen -- the other three comprising the silver screen, TV and PC) application service 'ISEE' along with telecom service provider BSNL.
The two-film rally by Sony Pictures and Eros International - Saawariya and Om Shanti Om - has set the cash registers ringing. Diwali day usually does not have audience flocking in large numbers, but this Diwali has brought prosperity to multiplex owners with over 85 per cent occupancy on Friday. All leading theatre chains are running to packed houses on Saturday and Sunday.
Om Shanti Om, which will hit theatres on Friday, and others in the pipeline such as Welcome and Race have done it already. Harry Baweja's Love Story 2050 is said to be in talks with jeans brand Killer to introduce a denim clothing line based on the film.
Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh is close to sealing a deal with tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi's sports marketing agency Globosport after his seven-year contract with Percept Talent Management ends in a few weeks. The move could prompt Percept taking Yuvaraj Singh to court because it is believed to have the first right to refusal to match the Globosport offer.
Diwali blockbusters Saawariya and Om Shanti Om may not be screened at a multiplex near you. Leading multiplex chains PVR Cinemas, Inox Lesiure, Cinemax India and Fame, which account for 80 per cent of the country's multiplex screens and half the box office collections, have rejected a demand for a higher revenue share by the films' distributors and have threatened a blackout.
Liquor and airline baron Vijay Mallya, auto major Hero Honda and leading telecom company Reliance Communications have started negotiations with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to buy the rights of teams that will play in the Twenty20 tourney, which was announced to counter Subhash Chandra's Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Sports academies are catching the fancy of astute businessmen. Wizcraft International Entertainment, an event management and entertainment agency, plans to rollout around 8 sports academies with an outlay of nearly Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion). The non-sport company will panout the eight academics across eight cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad,Kolkata, Pune, Goa, Chennai - in a phased manner beginning early 2008.
The concerns have grown after the ICL decided to postpone its tournaments from October 1 to mid-November this year.
As the Men in Blue flew home to a hero's welcome in Mumbai, advertisers are betting over Rs 250 crore in the next 90 days on cricket TV broadcasts -- a hefty 16 per cent of average advertising spends in the festival season.
Players like Rohit Sharma or Dinesh Karthik who could never command more than Rs 10 to Rs 15 lakh can now hope to hit Rs 30 lakh for new deals. Bowler Sreesanth's endorsement tag has shot up from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.
In return, the BCCI is offering a revenue share from stadium advertising and gate money but not television rights.
Zee TV is fast closing in on general entertainment channel leader Star Plus in terms of viewership.
Raghav Bahl-promoted media company Television Eighteen Group is paying over Rs 340 crore to buy out the rights of films in two of Bollywood's biggest movie deals.
The content providers -- TV channels, FM Radio stations, e-commerce companies and credit card majors -- have blamed the service providers and mobile value-added services (VAS) operators for the problem.
The bidding companies have the choice of either bidding individually or as a group.
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