Balaji Telefilms says TV to remain its cash cow despite digital boom

Balaji's online streaming platform launched in April 2017 and within four months drew a Rs 4.1 billion investment from Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd

India’s top daily soap opera producer believes the traditional television screen will remain its cash cow even as its own foray into streaming content has drawn backing from Asia’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani.

“I don’t see the TV screen fading in India like what happened in the US, at least for the next five years, as we have low subscription fees here,” Sunil Lulla, chief executive officer of Balaji Telefilms Ltd., said in an interview in Mumbai last week. Television programming still accounts for about 65 percent of revenue for the company, which has a market capitalization of 9.2 billion rupees