| MUMBAI:
Alliance Lumière Ltd, which operates under the NDTV Lumière brand,
plans to raise $7 million as it aims to widen its World Cinema content and step
up the presence of its television channel. The
company, a joint venture between NDTV Imagine, Manmohan Shetty and Sunil Doshi,
is in talks with private equity investors. "We plan to invest $7 million
over the next 18 months. This will be used for augmenting our reach and replenishing
our catalogue. We are looking at raising capital," Alliance Lumière
Ltd. founder-member and director Sunil Doshi tells Indiantelevision.com.
Alliance
Lumière has already invested $10 million, a bulk of which is towards content.
"We have invested about $7 million in acquiring World Cinema titles. We already
have 420 titles and are looking at adding 250-300 over the next 18 months. The
global slowdown has brought down the acquisition prices," says Doshi. NDTV
Lumiere is available on digital cable and is in talks with DTH operators to widen
the channel's presence. "Since this is a very niche segment, we are looking
at widening our presence on the digital platform. Distribution on analogue cable
is costly because of carriage fee. We are in talks with Tata Sky and Dish TV,"
Doshi says. On
the home video front, NDTV Lumiere has tied up with Excel Home Video and priced
its DVDs at Rs 399. The plan is to release 50-60 DVDs a year. "We have also
had 40 theatrical releases. The idea is to build and cultivate these audiences,"
says Doshi. Some
of the titles that the channel has also the theatrical and home video rights include
Three Monkeys, The Edge of Heavan, Honeydripper, Goodbye Bafana, Crossed Track,
Persepois, The Orphanage, Mon Uncle and Goodbye Children among others. NDTV
Imagine holds 51 per cent in Alliance Lumière while Adlabs founder Shetty
has 29 per cent and filmmaker Doshi 20 per cent respectively. | 
