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Purvita Chatterjee

Mumbai April 24 Sony Max expects its viewership to increase by 15 per cent in the wake of the cricket World Cup series. "We hope to have a minimum increase of 15 per cent in our TRP or viewership," says Ms Sneha Rajani, Business Head, Max.

Considering that this `temporary' cricket channel had to drop its ad rates midway through the World Cup series, it now expects to command revised ad rates as it converts itself into a premium Hindi movie channel. "We expect a positive rub-off on the ad rates after the World Cup as well," says Ms Rajani.

Conceding that there have been losses for the channel after India's early exit from the World Cup, Ms Rajani pegs the channel's revenue loss at 10-15 per cent. "The loss of 10-15 per cent of revenues is not that tremendous," she says.

Sony hopes to pick up a stake in Neo Sports rather than bid for any further expensive sporting rights. "For the moment we do not intend having sports on any of our channels as we do not have rights," Ms Rajani added. So while Pix and Max will remain its English and Hindi movie channels respectively, SAB and Sony will continue as general entertainment channels.

Max has been acquiring rights for Yash Chopra films and intends showing the latest blockbusters such as Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Eklavya. Besides, it is also launching a month-long film festival — `Ab Tak Bachchan' — to showcase Amitabh Bachchan's biggest hits soon after the World Cup.

As a Hindi movie channel, Max is expected to have competition from channels such as Zee Cinema, Filmy and Star World. "We have been making acquisitions and with the kind of relations we have with the Hindi film fraternity, we expect to differentiate ourselves from the rest," claims Ms Rajani. The channel would also be airing dubbed versions of Tamil and Telugu films.

Targeting the SEC A and B markets in the 15-35 age group, Max claims it is the leader in the Hindi movies segment even in the CAS market.

"The response in the CAS markets has been fairly positive since this is our target audience. In spite of the temporary problems of set-top boxes not being available, Max has been the leading channel and the Sony bouquet has not suffered," she added.

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