Sahara One’s new TV channel, FIRANGI due to be launched Febraury 25 is already creating waves about its content and USP. To put in short, the channel will be first of its kind in India as it would bring programmes from different regions of the world, which would be dubbed in Hindi.
Firangi would be an addition to the ever growing genre of General Entertainment Channels flooding the India television space. To carve a niche of itself in the competitve space, would be a tough job for the channel, especially when Indian family audiences won’t be able to identify themselves with foreign characters.
After bringing out Ramayan 3392AD, a comic in late 2006, Virgin Comics is bringing out an online video game based on the mythological epic in partnership with Sony Online Entertainment.
The game would be available worldwide and would be a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game capable of simultaneously handling thousands of players online, and would offer a fresh change to the games based on Tolkien mythology, which are much prevalent globally.
Ramayan has been one of the greatest epics ever and combined with its mystery, magic, adventure and transformation, it would surely find many takers.
Virgin Comics has also tied up with UTV Motion Pictures to create four original superheroes which will be leveraged across publishing, film, animation and gaming.
Initially these would be released as graphic novels with the first book being published in late 2007.
In what may be a first of its kind promotional strategy, Bigtree Entertainment (owned by Web18, a TV18 Group company) is offering 25% discount on movie tickets for Chak De India booked through BookMyShow.com.
Bookmyshow.com offers real-time booking along with seat selection at cinemas in 27 cities across India. The theatres partnered with include Adlabs, PVR, Fun Cinemas, Inox, DT Cinemas, Wave, SRS, M2K, Prasadz, Chanakya, 24 Karat, Movietime and Velocity.
Such venture is first in India as uptil now booking options were confined to specific theatre in a particular city. But with Bookmyshow.com, there is option of choosing from different theatres in a single city without having to scroll through different websites.
Also, BookMyShow.com offers variety as one can buy tickets without registering, and also book tickets though call centre and get home delivery of tickets. It also offers print at home facility and has a simple menu to choose your favourite flick. In future, the site may also provide tickets for plays, concerts and even offer discounts and schemes for corporate booking.
Thought there are certain issues with ticket booking, as there is no option of unpaid booking and booking can be done only through Credit Card or ‘Cash on Delivery’ ignoring the more used option of booking though Internet Banking. Also, the convenience charge may deter certain moviegoers from booking the tickets and it would be more used as movie selection rather than ticket booking.
Rajnikanth’s ‘Sivaji’ opened globally today to unprecedented bookings. The movie is the most expensive made in India with budget of Rs. 60 crores with Rajnikanth itself raking 20 crores, making him the highest paid Indian star.
The release has spelled good news for listed companies too, thus spiking an interest in the scrips of these companies. GV Films has bagged the distribution rights for Tamil Nadu for Rs.52 crores, of which Chennai alone accounts for Rs. 6.5 crores. The company expects to make Rs. 100 crores globally and Rs. 11 crore from Chennai alone.
After Virgin-TV18 deal, another tieup in the animation space has happened. Walt Disney Co. and Yash Raj Films are forming a JV to make animated films with voice by Bollywood stars to get a bigger pie of India’s growing media and entertainment market.
The Indian population under 14 years old is bigger than the entire U.S. population, thus creating a huge market opportunity. The move is part of Disney’s strategy to focus more on high-growth foreign markets with local partners and earn more than half of its income from overseas operations. Later, Disney could also venture into making live-action movies in India.
Sahara One’s new TV channel, FIRANGI due to be launched Febraury 25 is already creating waves about its content and USP. To put in short, the channel will be first of its kind in India as it would bring programmes from different regions of the world, which would be dubbed in Hindi.
After bringing out Ramayan 3392AD, a comic in late 2006, 
In what may be a first of its kind promotional strategy, Bigtree Entertainment (owned by Web18, a TV18 Group company) is offering 25% discount on movie tickets for Chak De India booked through 
Rajnikanth’s ‘Sivaji’ opened globally today to unprecedented bookings. The movie is the most expensive made in India with budget of Rs. 60 crores with Rajnikanth itself raking 20 crores, making him the highest paid Indian star.
After 
