Brief

Moser Baer enters home video market

Moser Baer, an optical storage manufacturer recently announced the launch of a new initiative in content distribution, which would mark the company’s maiden foray into the entertainment industry through the Indian home video market.

The company will release video content on DVD and Video CD formats using its proprietary and patented technology which enhances quality and significantly reduces cost. This will enable Moser Baer to revolutionise the quality-price parity and offer value for the consumers. It is looking at video centric content whether entertainment or other areas like education.

Its new division is in final negotiations to acquire exclusive license of over 7,000 titles in all major Indian languages which comprises a third of all movies produced till date in India. Moser Baer will try to convince film producers and acquire all this content.

Harish Dayani, CEO, Entertainment Business, said, “This initiative is poised to bring a change in the home video market which we believe will lead to much higher consumption of content on home video, and encourage people to build libraries. We have planned distribution to reach virtually every town where there is a movie loving family.”

Yogesh Mathur, Group Chief Financial Officer, Moser Baer India; Harish Dayani, CEO, Entertainment, Moser Baer India; Ratul Puri, Executive Director, Moser Baer India

According to Yogesh Mathur, Group CFO, Moser Baer India, “This initiative represent an opportunity to leverage our optical media strengths in patented and proprietary technology, capacity and costs enabling us to offering high quality titles at very attractive price points between Rs 28 to 34 for VCD or DVD. I believe that at these price points, we will redefine the home video market in India.”

The prices of the DVD or VCD of the new and old movies will vary. Special package price will also be offered for instance, if one buys 20 DVDs then you will get a discount. The life span of the DVD or VCD will be about 100 to 300 years. Multiple movies on the DVD will affect the quality and hence Moser Baer will provide only one movie per DVD.

Moser Baer has definite plans for the future. It intends to acquire copyrights of 40 percent of the films produced till date in the country in various languages by March 2007 and aims to capture 50 percent of the DVD or VCD market. By 2009, it will invest Rs 400 to 500cr for content creation and acquisition.

The new initiative of the company will release titles in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi languages. With 18 CFAs, 400 distributors and a dedicated sales force, this division will also set up owned and branded outlets at about 300 locations in addition to its alliances with large format stores.

The Indian home video market has not grown at the pace that it should have considering the fact that India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of films. Rampant piracy and high fragmentation in this business have unfortunately impacted the industry.

According to Moser Baer, research shows that India has over 26 million DVD or VCD users, growing at a healthy clip of over 25 percent, and comprising about a fourth of all TV owners in the country. Despite the huge potential market, home video accounts for a mere seven percent of the total film revenues that amount to Rs. 7,900 crore.