STAR India to rerun SaharaOne’s blockbuster premieres

STAR India has bought the telecast rights for some of the biggest titles in Hindi films from the SaharaOne library. The uniqueness of the deal is in that STAR India will get to telecast these movies only after their television premiere on SaharaOne. The rights to show these movies will be given for a limited period and limited frequency of telecast, after which the rights will return to SaharaOne.

Shantonu Aditya, chief executive officer, SaharaOne, says, “This is just a way to maximise the revenue opportunity that these titles offer. And the revenue earned thus will help us invest more in the business.”

He adds, “The deal is a trendsetter. Other channels are sure to follow this trend of acquiring or selling broadcast rights for a limited period of time.”

Incidentally, STAR India had struck a similar deal with Hungama and Disney Channel on previous occasions.

Titles such as ‘Page 3’, the first to be aired on SaharaOne in some time, ‘Sarkaar’, ‘Bewafa’ and ‘Bose – The Forgotten Hero’ will first be telecast on SaharaOne, sometimes repeatedly, over the next six months. Then, the broadcast rights will be lent to STAR India for a set period of time.

This is a good deal for STAR India as well. As Sameer Nair, chief operating officer, STAR India, says, “Buying the rights for movies for a limited period obviously comes cheaper than acquiring new titles.”

Nair doesn’t seem to be bothered about the movies being premiered on a rival channel first. He explains, “Movie channels premiere one movie a month at the most. The rest of the programming consists of reruns of popular films. Viewers don’t watch just film premieres. They want to watch their favourite movies repeatedly. That’s how it works. So, from our side, we are happy airing reruns. It goes without saying that we will not air the movie when SaharaOne is airing it and vice versa. Such cross-syndication should happen between channels. It’s a good deal.”

Media planners also corroborate Nair’s theory. As Hiren Pandit, general manager, MindShare, Mumbai, says, “On any given day, STAR India has a wider viewership base than SaharaOne, so I don’t think STAR’s viewership will be affected even if the movie has been premiered first on SaharaOne.”

He adds, “It’s a win-win situation for both of them. While STAR India has bagged a great deal, SaharaOne doesn’t lose out on anything either.”

Kajal Malik, regional director, OMS, Bangalore, says, “The deal is a smart move by SaharaOne. With its comparatively smaller viewership base, it will be difficult for the channel to garner very high ad revenues even with the premiere of blockbuster movies. So, by selling the rights to STAR India, it gets to earn a few extra bucks.”

She adds, “Even if the movies are rerun on STAR channels, advertisers will feel confident about betting their money as they guarantee high viewership figures.”

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