| MUMBAI:
After bagging the ten-year theatrical rights for the popular Indian Premier League
(IPL) for Rs 3.3 billion, Entertainment and Sports Direct (ESD) is striking deals
with a chain of theatres to show live the 45-day T20 competition.
As ESD's
exclusive techno-commercial partner for theatres, UFO Moviez has signed up Cinemax
and is in talks with other plex and theatre owners to make the IPL available as
widely as possible across the country.
"We
are looking at the IPL being shown in 1000 screens. We would be tying up with
around 250 multiplex and A-screens," says UFO Moviez founder and managing
director Sanjay Gaikwad.
While UFO Moviez will enter into revenue share
arrangements with theatres who have computerized ticketing systems, the others
will have to pay a fixed fee.
"We will have a 50:50 revenue share
on net box office collections with the theatre owners. As for the fixed fee model,
the rates will vary between Rs 3,000 to Rs 15,000 per match. This will depend
on the number of seats the theatre has, its occupancy level, the ticket rates
and the number of IPL matches that the owner signs up for," adds Gaikwad.
UFO
Moviez will earmark 100 founding exhibition partner (FEP) locations where it will
create a carnival environment during the IPL competition with heavy marketing,
live bands, contests and team merchandising sales in these centres.
"We
will show the matches without advertisements during the overs. There will be ads
before the match and after the end of the innings. We will be creating an extremely
stadium kind of experience for the viewers. The marketing will spill over 75 days,"
says Gaikwad. ESD
will take way a major share of the revenues from what UFO Moviez collects. "We
will retain a small portion of the total revenues while the major part will go
to ESD. We will also charge ESD a fee for our services," says Gaikwad.
Cinemax hopes to cash in at a time when no big Bollywood releases would take
place. Says Cinemax senior vice president Devang Sampat, " We will definitely
show IPL on at least one screen of our plexes every day. We have decided to pursue
marketing the tournament on a war-footing."
Talking about the admission
cost of each match screening, Sampat adds, "The average ticket price should
work out to Rs 100."
Promoted by Dar Capital Group, ESD has also
signed an exclusive techno-commercial deal with Valuable Media Ltd for showing
the IPL in public venues. | 
