A new TV show for SMEs

In line with the increasing importance of SME’s in the Indian economy, the country’s leading business channel CNBC Awaaz in association with Entrepreneur Magazine has launched a new TV show entirely focused on this segment. The show named ‘AWAAZ Entrepreneur’ launched on May 15 will focus completely on SMEs in India.

The business channel aims to reveal the arduous but rewarding journeys of various SMEs and also bring out various ideas, options & solutions available to various sections of our society who yearn to venture out and make it big on their own.

The show will profile SME’s and talk to various stakeholders. The series will also showcase the journeys of eminent industry figures, who have gone through the SME phase and have now transformed into larger businesses. Further, the show will also entertain queries of individuals across the country through an expert.

DTH services to open up for Interportability

Government is finally waking up to allow real competition into the DTH market. Till now, there is no portability amongst the DTH player which gives players upper hand in pricing ones the subscriber chooses a particular service as the subscriber can no longer switch to other service without incurring huge cost.

Lack of regulation on the technology front has resulted into lack of uniformity amongst the DTH players, though the two biggest players, Tatasky and Dishtv, use MPEG 2 technology the new entrants into the market are using MPEG 4 technology. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has asked the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to draft a norm on DTH setup box technology, which will enable Interportability of services.

This decision will benefit the present subscribers which are estimated at around 6.4 million. But, this decision will have major impact on the future growth of DTH market as consumers will find it more attractive to have DTH service with Interportability feature. DTH segment has attracted two new players in recent months and is expected to heat up the competition and growth of this segment.

Fox Star Inks deal with ‘Singh is King’ producer for India foray

Even though there is global financial and credit turmoil going on, Hollywood production studios entry into Indian film industry continues unabated. The latest to join the bandwagon includes Fox Star Studios, a JV between Twentieth Century Fox and Star, who have entered into a multiple-film deal with producer and director of the latest blockbuster film ‘Singh is King’ Vipul Amrutlal Shah. 'Singh Is King' released in August, starring the current most bankable star ‘Akshay Kumar’ went on to cast its magic all over India as well as in foreign countries, including neighboring Pakistan. The movie also is considered to have got the biggest opening ever for a Hindi movie with a global box office figure of $16.1mn. Shah has also directed hit films earlier which include Namastey London, Ankhein and Waqt.

The deal includes the development and production of an action movie and a romantic comedy and a first look deal on Shah’s future projects. The visual film effects event film will be supported by a team of top visual effects directors from Hollywood and supervised by Fox’s multiple award-winning in-house visual effects team. Vipul Shah said that these kinds of associations are the future of Indian cinema and the Indian film makers should team up with the best technical and creative talent from around the globe while yet keeping the Indian soul in the films. The director is now working on Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan starrer 'London Dreams,' again one of the biggest films in the line up for 2009.

The deal follows similar deals by leading Hollywood production houses viz. Walt Disney and Sony Pictures Entertainment that have struck similar production deals in India. Disney is producing a Bollywood version of its High School Musical film while Sony recently released Saawariya, its first stab at a three-hour Bollywood epic. With growth slowing in the US film industry, Hollywood studios are looking to new markets such as India, South Korea and Russia. The main reason for more companies looking towards the Indian film Industries is due to the expectation that Indian film industry will double in size over next five years, that is from $2.4 bin in 2007 to $4.4 bn in 2012.

An exception to this trend has been Anil Ambani, which recently was covered by Indiabusinessbazaar last month, he has gone westwards, inking a $1.5 bn deal with Steven Spielberg’s Dreamwork’s.

Reliance Big Entertainment hits it BIG

Reliance Big Entertainment hits it BIG

R-ADAG's Reliance Big Entertainment has clinched a $1.2 bn deal with Hollywood’s leading director Steven Spielberg, to finance the director’s future projects. Reliance will invest $500 mn and provide another $700 mn in debt through JPMorgan Chase & Co. Thirty films are likely to emanate from Reliance's co-financing and 10 will go into production soon. The deal will split the long standing tie-up between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, which bought the production house for $1.6 bn in 2006.

DreamWorks SKG was founded in 1994 by Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Spielberg retains the rights to the name DreamWorks and is expected to affix it to the new entity. Some hit movies produced while DreamWorks was housed at Paramount including the Will Ferrell comedy "Blades of Glory," "Transformers" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." The deal is expected to save Paramount overhead costs by cutting loose the high-priced director. Frictions emerged due to the cost of keeping between Paramount and DreamWorks. Paramount could however still be involved in distributing films made by the group, including jointly produced movies such as the upcoming sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Meanwhile Spielberg is expected to continue to direct "Indiana Jones" sequels with Paramount and Lucasfilm as production companies.

Earlier in the year, Reliance Big Entertainment had announced during the Cannes Film Festival in May, that it would invest $1 bn to develop and co-produce movies with Hollywood stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks and Nicholas Cage and filmmaker Chris Columbus' 1492 Pictures. Reliance Entertainment has as many as 100 films in production and development in India, and Reliance Big Entertainment, a subsidiary, is focused on striking cross-border collaborations involving gaming, movies, online, animation and music.