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James Bond, the famous British spy, has found a new home in Sony PIX, the English movie channel from the Multi Screen Media (MSM) stable.
MSM has signed a three-year output deal with Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios for airing its upcoming and library titles on Sony PIX. The deal include exclusive rights for all the Bond movies for three years, including the premiere of Skyfall.
The other films, which Sony PIX get to premiere includes The Hobbit and in future the remake of Robocop. In addition, popular movies from MGM stable – the Rocky series, Terminator, Species, The Pink Panther and Conan the Destroyer – will also be part of the deal.
Saurabh Yagnik, Business Head, Sony PIX told Business Standard, “This is a big deal of us as we get all the Bond movies, and the biggest one Skyfall, exclusively on our channel.”
Yagnik added that the channel is on a strong growth path and is aggressively strengthening its library through investment in content. “We have seen 59% growth in terms of GRPs (gross rating points) in the seven metros, while the time spent on our channel has increased from 24 minutes to 31 minutes. Our revenues are also growing over 25-30% in the last 2 years.”
Manjit Singh, CEO, MSM had recently told Business Standard that the company wants to strengthen PIX.
“Right now it is over dependent on the Sony output. Signing with another major studio will enable us to strengthen and be able to consolidate and build the story of PIX,” he said
PIX was initially launched as a library channel and had no new run and premieres. A couple of years back, it got first output deal with Sony Pictures, and started premiering movies. “We need one more studio to premiere on our channel,” Singh added.
Giving a roadmap, Songh said, “We first want to build PIX to really have a dominant position to establish its rightful position and move that perception to a premium channel. Overtime I think there are going to be opportunities because of digitisation and reduction in carriage fees to try different combination of things. Maybe a more classic or maybe a premium channel which means no ads but paid subscription.”
