Moser Baer to buy 15-25% of new releases

Delhi-based optical media manufacturer, Moser Baer, is planning to buy at least 15-25 per cent of the Indian film, to be released in the market this year. It's also eyeing Hollywood releases to capture at least 50 per cent of market share of all the new releases.

To start with, the company has bought the latest Hindi titles ""Vikram Bhatt's 'Life Mein Kabhi Kabhi', Quartet Film's 'Ek Chalis Ki Train' and Anil Sharma's 'Apne' (all to be released this year) "" that will be available at Rs 34 for a digital video disc (DVD) and Rs 28 for a video compact disc (VCD) within a month from the date of release.

Harish Dayani, CEO, Moser Baer Entertainment, told Business Standard the company is looking at acquiring at least 50 per cent of the new releases. Moser Baer entered the business last December and by the end of March had released 75 Hindi titles out of the acquired 1,500 Hindi titles. The company plans to acquire another 1,000 as it eyes a 50 per cent share of the market.

"We intend to acquire 15-25 per cent of the new releases in all languages this year." said Dayani. He added that going forward, the company may consider buying bulk titles from production house. As of now the company is acquiring Bollywood films on a one-off basis.

The company's foray in the home video market did trigger a price war with existing players such as Ultra, Shemaroo Entertainment and T-Series. Moser Baer is offering older films at Rs 34 for a DVD and Rs 28 for a VCD and promises the same with even new titles. If this was not enough, Moser Baer is also eyeing Hollywood releases.

With 500 Hollywood titles Moser Baer has secured a spot at Cannes Festival""to be held from May 16""to interact with all the major production companies of US. It already has tie-ups with production houses such as American Cinema International, Lake Shore Production (that has films like 'A million dollar baby', 'Angel' and 'Last Samurai') and Amity Entertainment.

Further, the company has tied-up with Lake Shore Production for its three forthcoming new releases in 2007-08. Apart from the three Hollywood production houses, Moser Baer is also in talks with others.

The company is yet to decide on the pricing on its international offering but is confident it shall not exceed Rs 100.

According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the home video market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31 per cent to Rs 2,500 crore by 2011.

An additional boost will come from the organised retail segment. The company has over 450 distributors across the country out of which 40 per cent are new distributors that earlier sold FMCG, telecom and other products.