India’s sovereign wealth fund – the debate continues

Should it or should it not? It has been the question for few years now. Back in 1991, this kind of discussion would have been far fetched. India was on the verge of bankruptcy when its foreign reserves were depleted and could not even cover 2 weeks imports. It was close to pledging its gold. [...]

Big TV to bring in Fox News, Warner Bros’ channels

Global majors who are believed to be in talks with Big TV include DirecTV, KKR, The Carlyle Group and Sequoia Capital. Sources said the enterprise valuation is not just based on subscription numbers and average revenue per user (ARPU), ...

American Brain Drain: Why We Need H1B Visa Immigration Reform

America's immigration system is broken. While most focus on illegal immigration or changing ethnicities of legal immigration, what concerns me is that we are losing our historic ability to attract and retain the word's brightest and most entrepreneurial workers.

Bought Your Tata Nano? Now Live In Nano Homes

Imagine yourself driving your own car back to your own home without paying hefty monthly installments. If you are one of those who are waiting for your , hold your breath. You can now own a house in just Rs. 4 lakh.Tata Housing, a subsidiary of Tata Sons on Wednesday, that it would be offering ‘value homes’ at affordable prices under its ‘Shubh Griha’ project. To be housed in Boisar, which is two-and-a-half hours by train from Mumbai, the homes would cost between Rs 3.9 lakh to Rs 6.7 lakh, minus the registration fee. ...Oops! Click the link to read more

UTV Issues Clarification On Impasse; Continued Focus On Multiple Revenue Streams

UTV Software Communications Ltd, the Bombay Stock Exchange-listed media firm with substantive interests in Hindi film production, issued a detailed clarification on the imapsse between multiplexes and producers, and how it will affect the firm's business. Heart of the issue: Plexes, in the last year, have restricted box office sharing to content creators to 48% in week one, 38% in week two and down to 30% from week three. Furthermore, commencing Dec 08, they collectively (and in direct disregard to an MRTP order against them) initiated steps to further reduce this already imbalanced share. Importantly, for movies with no star cast (and there are an increasingly higher number of them and successful ones) they accorded even lower terms i.e. 45% in week one - dropping to 35% in week two. It is important to note that the new genre of smaller movies actually have a longer life in theatres and their box office in week 2 is as much as week one, sometimes higher. UTV offers the following illustration: In Mumbai, if a multiplex ticket is priced at Rs200, given that entertainment tax is 45%, Rs90 is deducted straightoff. Of the remaining Rs110, 48%, which is Rs53 per ticket, is then given to the distributor. This is only 26.5% of the total ticket value. In week 2, this figure is an even lower Rs42. In comparison, even with a lower ticket price of Rs100 at a single screen cinema, of the Rs55 net of the 45% entertainment tax, upto 80% is retained by the producer, either on a rental or a revenue share basis. This works out to Rs44 and the producer gets the same amount for all weeks. UTV also points out that the realization per show is higher as single screen cinemas can seat a larger number of people. Plexes have grown the Indian box office market, which now accounts for 30-50% of total revnues from a film, the statement says. The rest is made up of sattelite rights, digital rights, music rights, home video rights and overseas rights. Prevents selective distribution: UTV says the plexes behave like a cartel and insists that if a film has to be shown, a print must be provided to every single cinema of their chain, thereby disabling a selective and inexpensive distribution strategy for smaller films, impeding the growth of that genre. Lower dependency on theatrical revenue: Due to continued focus on pay-per-view and video-on-demand revenues, the dependency of producers on Indian theatrical revenues have come down. In the past, this dependency used to be 90%. For the year ended 31 March 2009, Indian theatrical revenues contributed only 29% to UTV Motion Pictures revenues. "...we believe commercials will not be substantially affected." The statement also says the release schedule of UTV moviles will not be affected as the firm did not have any releases planned during this period. The Multiplex Association has said it will release a white paper to explain their stand soon.   Related Talks Between Producers, Multiplexes Fail; Films Coming Soon To A Single Screen Cinema Near You Must Attend Event: EconSM: Social Meets Mobile, May 14th in San Francisco. Speakers include Seth Sternberg, (CEO and Co-Founder, Meebo), Kevin Thau, (Director, Mobile Business Development, Twitter), and George Linardos, (VP, Product Management, Media, Nokia) among many more. See full list and register at www.econsm.com. Get 10% off the the early registration fee by using code "EconSM0910"

Mobile Marketing Association launches India Local Council | News …

The MMA India Local Council currently has 34 members including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo India, Hungama, Indiagames, Group M, Thomson Reuters, Quasar, Affle, Buongiorno, ActiveMedia, mKhoj, Mauj, ValueFirst, Mobile2win, AdMob, ...

Indian Elections 2009: The Internet Version

Indian Elections 2009 are in full swing and Indian politicians have changed the way they are communicating with the Indian public to draw votes for the elections 2009. The new Internet has changed the way an informed electorate goes to vote... 1. Online Advertising - You can easily spot major political ...

Updated: Sify Shuts Down IndiaWorld…On How The Consumer Business Is Doing

Update: A Sify spokesperson, in an emailed response to MediaNama, has said that India World “was being maintained only as a legal entity with no conduct of business. Given that it was a shell entity which does not conduct business any longer, it was decided to close it down after three years. This was reported in [...]

Twentieth Century Fox Started Sueing Bollywood! Why Not

Bollywood is definitely popular outside India, mostly because of NRI's but now the trend is changing and after the success of Slumdog Millioner , Hollywood has started noticing Bollywood. This is probably not a good sign for diretors and producers because Bollywood has created so many movies based on Hollywood movies and now its time to pay back.Fox has B.R. Films to court and is alleging plagiarism and copyrights violation. The Hollywood house has even sought Rs.7 crore (Rs.70 million) as damage charges and an injunction against the release of 'Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai'....Oops! Click the link to read more

Disney Breaks Away From Excel In Home Video Business; To Go Direct To Retail

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Studios Home Entertainment India, which handles the home video business of the entertainment conglomerate, has decided to break away from its long standing local partner Excel Home Videos and adopt the direct-to-retail model, where an in-house team will do the marketing and sales and bulk of the distribution. On the distribution side, larger accounts will be handled by the Disney team, while parts of the distribution will be still handled by Excel, a Disney spokesperson said. Excel Home Videos has been handling marketing, sales and distribution for Disney's home video business since 2004.  Tinkerbell, from Disney's Fairies franchise, slated for a 13 May launch, will be the first DVD released under this new model. "The identification of effective distribution strategies will help us to best meet customer needs and continue to build our brand in India," said Mahesh Samat, SVP and MD, The Walt Disney Company (India), in a statement. The company said the home entertainment team will also use Disney's local productions.   Must Attend Event: EconSM: Social Meets Mobile, May 14th in San Francisco. Speakers include Seth Sternberg, (CEO and Co-Founder, Meebo), Kevin Thau, (Director, Mobile Business Development, Twitter), and George Linardos, (VP, Product Management, Media, Nokia) among many more. See full list and register at www.econsm.com. Get 10% off the the early registration fee by using code "EconSM0910"