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Movies as weapons of mass attraction

Sharmila Taliculam in Bombay

Eyeballs for dinner?

And millions of them. That's what the Big Two on the Indian satellite television scene are asking for. Star Plus and Sony Entertainment Television are locked in a death duel and their weapons of choice: blockbuster Hindi films, sometimes right out of the cinema halls.

The two have already blown close to Rs 60 million on securing telecast rights to films that have done superbly well at the box offices.

It all began with Sony screening Judaii two months ago. Star Plus retaliated with Betaab. But the channels reached a flash point when on September 26 they matched schedules in a daring gamble to win or lose all.

That evening must go down in Hindi language telecasting history as the dawn of competitive programming in India.

First Sony announced the screening of Rangeela for 8 pm. Within days, Star Plus was hawking Yes Boss for 7.30 pm, just half an hour before Sony's Big Do.

But two can play this early-bird game.

Sony waited as close to D-Day as it dared and then sprung a 6.30 pm schedule, catching Star Plus completely off guard.

The scheduled-jostling worked beautifully for Sony's Rangeela. It simply swept the evening. "Of course. The movie improved the TRP (television rating points). Despite the fact that people have seen this film, we still had 87 per cent viewership in Bombay alone and 65 per cent all over India. And the figures are only for a one-time airing!" claims SET chief Kunal Dasgupta.

Unfazed, a Star Plus spokesperson shrugs off the Rangeela-Yes Boss battle. "Sony may have won the first round with a higher viewership for Rangeela. But we are trying harder and the telecast of Pardes and Ghulam will change equations."

What was that? Pardes and Ghulam? The spokesperson assures Rediff On The NeT: "We have secured the rights to the movies. In fact, we are showing Pardes next week. Publicity for Ghulam's telecast will also begin then."

What is really going on here? Is it a brawl to grab as much of the shrinking advertising pie as possible? After all, these are the days of recession. Aren't they? Is this the beginning of a shakeout that will ultimately limit the consumer's choice? It may be too early to weigh these intangible ponderables.

However, the immediate reasons for the showdown are quite clear. There are two distinct drifts.

One, Star Plus, is eager to lose its Western flavour and get a hang of the best-selling local content as soon as possible; and two, Sony, unable to afford a stable of sharply focussed channels, is trying to please all kinds of viewers all the time. Here's the lowdown….

The Star Television Network comprises six channels. Star Movies, which is mostly Hollywood fare. Star Sports. Star World. Star News. Channel [V], a strategic poser to MTV in the music segment. And Star Plus.

Star Plus is the most ill-defined among these. Its content is a mix of local and Western programming including soaps, chats, movies, news, business and most-importantly, Hindi film-based productions.

But this profile mirrors that of Sony in toto.

Well, almost. The differences between Star Plus and Sony are nothing but subtle. Sony has just that bit more of the desi flavour than Star Plus, which has the Western branding of its siblings to think of.

But mass media, by definition, is a game of subtleties. A little more of local content means Sony is just that one rung above Star Plus.

It is only surprising that the Star Plus-Sony spat did not surface any earlier.

Sony seems to have caught on to Star Plus's desi gameplan. Since the Rangeela-Yes Boss episode, it has screened another two blockbusters. Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun and Mohra. Both at prices, that reportedly drew blood. It is now readying to screen Barsaat starring Bobby Deol and Twinkle Khanna.

But if this battle is going to be stretched any longer, Mr Deep Pocket has the edge. Turning the slugfest into a spendfest, Star Plus is set to drown Sony's Barsaat in multimillion acquisitions of Pardes and Ghulam.

"Of course there is money involved. But it is worth the investment if Star has to go desi. Let it be clear. We are competing to be the first in the Indian market," a Star TV spokesperson said.

Sony's Dasgupta reflects the sentiment. "It is true that we are paying a lot of money to telecast these films. And we don't mind paying more too. We may end up paying triple the amounts. Actually, we want to set a trend where the producers look at television as another territory."

In the Indian film distribution world there are five territories. The North, the West, the South, the East and the Overseas. Dasgupta is talking of a non-geographical sixth territory to be defined in the television domain.

However, he is softer on the competition issue. "There really is no competition to reach the top. Every channel has its own slot. We are only looking at being the best channel in India.

"See, the other channels must have sub-channels for their serials and films. They pay that much more too. We are doing it in one channel itself and trying to make it the best in everything. Serials, films, cartoons, songs, children's entertainment, everything.

"Basically, we have been showing blockbusters for sometime now. They must have been the blockbusters of yesteryears like Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India and Pakeezah, but they were very popular films," he points out.

"The industry had a rule that one couldn't legally show a film on television for five years after its release. Now they have reduced the embargo to two years and we are taking advantage of it. The films have become more accessible now," he explains.

In their neck-and-neck frenzy, both number-two Sony and number-three Star Plus may be forgetting that expensive blockbuster screenings, like cosmetics, are not even skin deep.

They only earn short-term TRP gains, sacrificing focus on building a long-term viewer loyalty.

Amen, say industry insiders who claim wisdom is really higher up on the mountain.

The number-one Zee TV stands amused at the ringside. Zee spokesperson Aarti Salgaonkar believes: "When Sony telecasts films that are blockbusters, they are diluting their entertainment. They are trying everything and they don't really seem sure of what they want to be. Whereas, Zee is purely a general entertainment channel for the masses. We have lots of serials for everybody and according to the latest TRP ratings, at least ten Zee serials are on the top."

"For us it doesn't make business sense to invest in such (expensive blockbuster) films because we are not looking at short-term gains at all. "We are looking at long-term gains and we are the top-most channel in the market today. Long-term in the sense, if more people watch us, then we get ads accordingly," she says.

"We show about 10 new films every month but such (expensive) films are not really worth it. Sony must have paid a bomb for these films, we don't think such investments are necessary because we are watched by more people anyway. It is not a question of what is affordable. It is a question of what is important. Such films only bring in temporary viewership," feels the Zee spokesperson.

If Sony and Star Plus are listening, they surely show no signs of seeing the light. But then again, the view from just under the peak may be very different.

Sony and Star Plus might just have got into an event-hosting mindset. The only way to attract quick bursts of ad revenue in the time of recession!

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