MUMBAI: B4U Worldwide, the holding company of B4U Movies and B4U Music, has in a major initiative joined hands with iDream to be co-producer in all its films.

iDream, by far the largest film fund that has emerged in India in recent times, is promoted by SSKI and has already produced / funded / distributed some well received independent movies of directors such as Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) and Gurinder Chadda (Bend it Like Beckham). iDream has backed off beat cinema with films such as Mitr (which has won 3 National Awards), as well as big star cast films like the soon to be released Agnivarsha with Raveena Tandon, Jackie Shroff, Sonali Kulkarni, Milind Soman playing lead roles in it. iDream also funded the recent moderate hit 16th December, as well as India’s biggest special effects film, the soon to be released Janantram Manantram and has in the pipeline several other productions, an official release states."

The move builds synergies with the global presence and distribution channels of B4U being used effectively. The venture also ensures an output deal for B4U, which can now show all the new productions on its channels worldwide, including India, the release says. B4U was first launched in the United Kingdom three years ago and today has a presence in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, the Middle East, South Africa, Mauritius, and the Indian sub-continent.

The initiative comes just ahead of B4U Movies going pay (31 August). The channel is priced at Rs 8.90 per month per subscriber with special schemes for the operators on subscription and decoder price. The schemes have also been made attractive for the rural operator where the package includes all costs of decoder and subscription, distribution head Debashish Dey says.

“Backed by a vision to serve global audiences, IDream has found the right partner in B4U as a co-producer since now all its production would be guaranteed the best marketing platform on all the B4U channels worldwide and thereby maximize the value of each property," the release quotes Shripal Morakhia, Chairman of iDream Production as saying.

“B4U is committed to bring good value to its Bollywood fans globally. For B4U this is a natural extension. It has a Film Studio tie-up with the film city, it has production strengths, it has global distribution strengths. The co-production funding tie-up and output deal will strengthen the B4U Channels and ensure that the vision to create a vehicle for the complete Bollywood dream is achieved,” is what Ravi Gupta, CEO, B4U had to say about the tie-up.

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