The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Home entertainment to become cheaper

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 26, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Home entertainment to become cheaper

N.J. Nair

Optical storage media company's plans spell lower costs

AT COMPETITIVE RATES: VCDs and DVDs on display.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Home entertainment is set to become cheaper in Kerala. International optical storage media company Moser Baer has announced that it would enter the entertainment market in the State within a fortnight, making available video compact disks (VCDs) at low rates. Cinema buffs could soon be watching their favourite films on VCDs at Rs.28 and digital versatile disks, or DVDs, at Rs.34.

The company has acquired 600 popular Malayalam titles and is in the process of securing others that are in various stages of production. According to chief operating officer G. Dhananjayan, it now has 30 distributors in the State and has entered into an agreement with 3,000 retailers to sell their content. "We will enter the market with around 100 titles, including the latest film, The Tiger, directed by Shaji Kailas. Other films too will hit the stands within the next few months. He said those bringing out pirated versions of films were using the company's blank CDs and the audience was forced to see films without clarity and precision. It was this realisation that prompted us to enter the market directly and market content that is acquired legally from the producers. The theme of a film and artistes are the benchmark for selecting films. "We are also collecting oldies of Prem Nazir, Jayan and such others," said Mr. Dhananjayan.

At present, video libraries buy the master copies of film VCDs at Rs.160 and DVDs at Rs.400 from wholesale dealers and rent out their duplicate copies at varying rates. Following the police crackdown on libraries to seize pirated CDs, many closed shop and some of them were finding the going tough.

Mr. Dhananjayan allayed the fears of library owners. The libraries can procure CDs from the company and instead of lending them in violation of rules, they can earn a handsome profit by selling the CDs. The libraries too can be part of the distribution chain, he says.

According to Trivandrum Film Fraternity chairman G. Suresh Kumar, the entry of such companies will help the industry as well as the public. "The producers who invest huge sums to produce films will get reasonable returns and the public would have the option of seeing films of their choice at competitive rates. This would also put a cap on video piracy," says Mr. Suresh Kumar.

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