INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL 1st - APRIL 15th - 2008
SONY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION, SAHARA BAG TV RIGHTS FOR EROS FILMS
EROS International’s Indian arm has signed television syndication deals for recent releases as well as library films with Sony Entertainment Television and Sahara Television Network.
The deal with Sony Entertainment Television allows them to premiere on the channels 16 new films, including current blockbusters Om Shanti Om and Heyy Babyy, for five years. The deal with Sahara gives the channel access to 35 library films, which are essentially, re-runs such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas and Hey Ram. Recently, Eros had entered deals with television platforms such as Dubai Television, Abu Dhabi Television, RTM Malaysia, Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation and National TV Romania. “We have enjoyed a great relationship with Sony and Sahara over the years, but this is the first time that we have licensed Sahara a slate of films for television exploitation and hope to continue to do more deals with them in the future,” said Sunil Lulla, director and president, India, Eros International.
Sony Entertainment Television CEO Kunal Das Gupta added, “Eros is a major player in the Indian film sector and Bollywood films are a critical part of our programming mix.” Eros has a library of over 1300 titles. The $6-billion Indian television sector has been experiencing growth at 21% CAGR. The Indian television sector has seen the leading players like Zee, Sony, Star, Sahara being joined by INX, NDTV Imagine, Viacom-TV18 and several others. This has allowed content owners like Eros to syndicate limited telecast rights to be shared between three-four channels for a limited period rather than licensing exclusive rights to any one channel for a longer period.
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