Tinselvision To Add Yash Raj Films; Rajshri Wants No DRM
By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 01 Oct 2007 12:01 AM PST
After signing up the likes of STAR and ZEE, TinselVision is believed to have signed up Yash Raj Films for video-on-demand content, reports Business of Cinema. Yash Raj Films currently has online music videos available for download at $1.99 for one song, 3 song videos for $4.99- and 6 songs for $8.99. That’s ancient pricing and strategy, given current market dynamics - Rajshri Media and Reliance owned BigFlicks have movies for download for between $4.99 and $19.99, and also free ad-supported streaming of recent films. Tinselvision Chairman and CEO appears to be unaware of competitors plans. He says “...what a company like Eros does is opening up an online store to generate more revenues for their distribution business. They are like any other chain of video rental store. From what we understand is that their purpose is not be an online entertainment destination. Same goes for BigFlicks… I might be wrong but that’s the impression that we have.” Apart from TinselVision, BODVOD also provides video content on demand.
I think this market is fragmenting fast and from the websites’ perspective, exclusive content is too expensive to procure. Thus the the bouquet of content will end up being similar, if not exactly the same. Differentiation will probably be around user experience and marketing. Also, the cost of streaming content is high and there’s the additional risk of the content owner entering the space. I also noticed an interesting Steve Jobs like quote from Rajshri Media MD Rajjat Barjatya, calling for no DRM: “I want the content to be used right across multiple devices, which is not possible through the DRM route”. But are content owners listening?
Posted in: Broadband, Companies, Rajshri Media, Bollywood
