Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Apr 09, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Apr 09, 2004 |
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Marketing
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Strategy ETC Channel Punjabi to foray into film production Latha Venkatraman
Mumbai , April 8 ETC Channel Punjabi is venturing into the arena of films - production of Punjabi feature films for theatrical release. The channel is in the process of finalising plans for three films during this fiscal. "The first of these films is slated for release sometime in August 2004 and we are working backwards from that date," Mr Rabindra Narayan, President, ETC Channel Punjabi, said. Unlike Bollywood films, the cost of production of Punjabi films is much lower. The tentative budgets for each of these films will be in the region of Rs 2 crore - Rs 3 crore and ETC Channel Punjabi is expected to dip into its internal accruals for funding these films. "Our entry into film production is to help revive the Punjabi film industry. Currently, about 2-3 films are produced annually,'' he said. "As there are not many actors in the Punjabi film industry we have decided to launch a contest to attract talent for these films,'' he said, adding that the channel is in the process of finalising the script, directors and other functionaries of filmmaking for these films. Punjabi films, according to Mr Narayan, have a potential for a theatrical release in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Delhi. There is a possibility of a release in Mumbai too, he said. This project's contribution to the topline of ETC Networks is yet to be assessed, Mr Narayan said. ETC Networks had ended the December 2003 quarter with a net profit of Rs 2.74 crore (Rs 4.11 crore) on revenues of Rs 13.16 crore (Rs 10.63 crore). ETC Channel Punjabi has a major share in the genre of Punjabi channels, according to Mr Jagjit Singh Kohli, CEO, ETC. Both the channels have had a 40 per cent growth during this fiscal, said Mr Ashutosh, VP, Operations. ETC Networks is a subsidiary of Zee Telefilms Ltd. ETC Punjabi's main strength is its exclusive six-hour daily telecast of Gurbani from Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) at Amritsar. The channel had signed an agreement with Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) in 2000 for live telecast of Gurbani Kirtan for a period of 11 years. ETC Music's strength is in being able to get over 50 per cent of Hindi film music video promos. "We hope to see a growth of 35-40 per cent during this year for ETC Music,'' Mr Ashutosh said. ETC Punjabi's main focus has been religious music and Punjabi music. Although its entire Gurbani slot runs without any advertisements the channel has been able to increase its earnings as well as advertisers, Mr Kohli said. It has most of the blue-chip companies as advertisers on the channel. Besides, the international distribution platform of Zee Network has driven the channel's share in the overseas markets. The channel is available in 112 countries. Having achieved a substantial position in terms of market share, further gain in share for both ETC Music and ETC Punjabi will not be easy, company officials say. "It is not going to be easy to grow our market share for ETC Music and ETC Punjabi, but as the overall market has grown we have been able to increase our revenues,'' Mr Ashutosh said.
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