Over the Top (OTT) platforms are the buzz word. This is an extension of the now extinct Home Video. To us it reminds us of the VHS tapes that often got caught in the VCR and the booking of cassettes at the local video library. Now it all comes to your mobile phone and TV screen through an app and crystal clear. Like in the case of Home Video rights which grew out of a counter to cable TV piracy, OTT comes as a route for those film producers and directors who want a quick release of their content and without being at the mercy of the theater- distributor lobby.
The advent of cable TV started with the import of VCR and local manufacture of this equipment. Till then, a NRI coming from abroad would pay customs duty and bring it along with him for his folks to see. The cassettes were mostly those which were called theater print and marketed in Gulf and other countries that Tamils and other Indians lived. It also gave birth of the porn industry in India, All you needed was a VCR and cables that ran to the houses in your street and you are a cable TV operator. Slowly it moved to an organized business module with people with political backing entering to take control of regions. As competition grew, theater prints were screened on cable TV. By then, Zee TV, Sun and Asianet had launched their satellite channels. Now the business gets legitimate and cable TV operators get an identity. They become part of SCV of Sun TV MSO in Tamil Nadu, Shashi Kumar’s Asianet’s ACTV in Kerala and Siticable in North India. RPG and Hathway too entered the fray.
Small operators became agents of the MSO’s who shifted from VCR to Satellite dishes. The number of connections held by a TV channel controlled MSO was the yardstick for advertisers to gauge the reach. In between, many US companies tried to go for JV with Indian firms but fell through. Now the channel have their own satellite platforms and dishes to offer, the cable network is shrunk to areas where there is more independent homes and no apartment blocks. With BARC replacing the old TRP system, advertisers get a more transparent picture of the channel reach.
The first to cash in on the home video was Raj Videos in Chennai. They bought the rights of all released movies with a clause that said they hold the perpetual right to transmit the content by air, underwater and by any means and in any form. It took care of a satellite rights later when TV channels came up and now digital rights. It also took care of transmission through underground sea cables. Into the fray came Eknaath Videos. Raj Videos was run by a family headed by Rajendran. Eknaath bought for higher prices the new releases. He then wanted to make his own content and turned producer. Like many producer’s, he did not know when to call it quits. The bankers came calling.
Raj Videos started Raj TV and content was not a problem. You got not less than 3 movies a day and all of them were `classics’. Sun TV just left open its slot to those who were looking for an opening as Doordarshan was ridden with corrupt officials in cahoots with politicians and a few publicity seeking businessmen.
Now OTT players from abroad have entered and doing what cable TV was doing then. Only this time they do not have to deal with anybody to screen the content they buy. They have `mediators’ who get them best deals and they do not have to worry as the servers are not within the Indian Cinematographic Act and they don’t need theaters. The two major players Amazon and Netflix are very much imbedded in the mobiles and TV screens. The threat arises when the OTT players start putting films that irk the ruling party agenda. A word of caution for producer’s who are going to sign deals with OTT. Those film producers who did not sign the `perpetual’ clause with Home Video and TV channels and chose to give for a time period are still raking money or their next generation. What might look like a good deal today will be a gold mine given away? Geo Kuttappan of Geo Films and Manjilas Joseph were those who saw it much before and resisted the temptation.
Over the Top (OTT) platforms are the buzz word. This is an extension of the now extinct Home Video. To us it reminds us of the VHS tapes that often got caught in the VCR and the booking of cassettes at the local video library. Now it all comes to your mobile phone and TV screen through an app and crystal clear. Like in the case of Home Video rights which grew out of a counter to cable TV piracy, OTT comes as a route for those film producers and directors who want a quick release of their content and without being at the mercy of the theater- distributor lobby.
The advent of cable TV started with the import of VCR and local manufacture of this equipment. Till then, a NRI coming from abroad would pay customs duty and bring it along with him for his folks to see. The cassettes were mostly those which were called theater print and marketed in Gulf and other countries that Tamils and other Indians lived. It also gave birth of the porn industry in India, All you needed was a VCR and cables that ran to the houses in your street and you are a cable TV operator. Slowly it moved to an organized business module with people with political backing entering to take control of regions. As competition grew, theater prints were screened on cable TV. By then, Zee TV, Sun and Asianet had launched their satellite channels. Now the business gets legitimate and cable TV operators get an identity. They become part of SCV of Sun TV MSO in Tamil Nadu, Shashi Kumar’s Asianet’s ACTV in Kerala and Siticable in North India. RPG and Hathway too entered the fray.
Small operators became agents of the MSO’s who shifted from VCR to Satellite dishes. The number of connections held by a TV channel controlled MSO was the yardstick for advertisers to gauge the reach. In between, many US companies tried to go for JV with Indian firms but fell through. Now the channel have their own satellite platforms and dishes to offer, the cable network is shrunk to areas where there is more independent homes and no apartment blocks. With BARC replacing the old TRP system, advertisers get a more transparent picture of the channel reach.
The first to cash in on the home video was Raj Videos in Chennai. They bought the rights of all released movies with a clause that said they hold the perpetual right to transmit the content by air, underwater and by any means and in any form. It took care of a satellite rights later when TV channels came up and now digital rights. It also took care of transmission through underground sea cables. Into the fray came Eknaath Videos. Raj Videos was run by a family headed by Rajendran. Eknaath bought for higher prices the new releases. He then wanted to make his own content and turned producer. Like many producer’s, he did not know when to call it quits. The bankers came calling.
Raj Videos started Raj TV and content was not a problem. You got not less than 3 movies a day and all of them were `classics’. Sun TV just left open its slot to those who were looking for an opening as Doordarshan was ridden with corrupt officials in cahoots with politicians and a few publicity seeking businessmen.
Now OTT players from abroad have entered and doing what cable TV was doing then. Only this time they do not have to deal with anybody to screen the content they buy. They have `mediators’ who get them best deals and they do not have to worry as the servers are not within the Indian Cinematographic Act and they don’t need theaters. The two major players Amazon and Netflix are very much imbedded in the mobiles and TV screens. The threat arises when the OTT players start putting films that irk the ruling party agenda. A word of caution for producer’s who are going to sign deals with OTT. Those film producers who did not sign the `perpetual’ clause with Home Video and TV channels and chose to give for a time period are still raking money or their next generation. What might look like a good deal today will be a gold mine given away? Geo Kuttappan of Geo Films and Manjilas Joseph were those who saw it much before and resisted the temptation.
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