MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM) has appointed Vaishali Sharma as the marketing and communications head of its Hindi movie channel and special events channel Max.

In her previous role, Sharma was vice-president marketing of English news channel Times Now. She had quit Times Now in March last year.

Sharma replaces Gaurav Seth who was appointed as head marketing of Sony Entertainment Television (Set) in December following Danish Khan?s exit. He was also handling the marketing and communications function of Max in the interim.

Max EVP and business head Neeraj Vyas said, "We are delighted to have Vaishali join the team at this important juncture and we are certain that her experience and understanding of the business and our audience will help us achieve our objective of becoming the leading player in the genre. We look forward to a long and fruitful working association with her."

Sharma said, "I am delighted to begin my second stint with the network. Max has always uniquely positioned itself in the television arena, with non-stop high quality entertainment, showcasing the best of movies and cricket. I look forward to take up this challenging role and work towards ensuring that the channel grows consistently to the leadership position in this space."

Sharma comes in with over twenty year of experience spanning across various business verticals including brand and television channel launches, category creation. Her previous assignments were with BBC Global News and Walt Disney Television as head of marketing.

MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM), Sony Pictures Television?s India subsidiary, has identified film production and distribution business as the company?s new growth area.

The plan is to first co-produce films before getting into projects independently. As part of this strategy, MSM has entered into a strategic tie-up with Eros International Media, India?s biggest movie production company.

MSM will co-produce and co-invest Shashant Shah?s Bhajathe Raho with Eros. The film currently under production is looking at a mid-year release. It will feature Tusshar Kapoor, Ranveer Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Ravi Kissen, Dolly Alhuwalia and others.

MSM CEO Man Jit Singh said that the film production business will be a separate line of business but housed under MSM. The film production business will be overseen by him and NP Singh initially, he added.

"We have been looking to enter the film production business in India for some time. We will produce a combination of big as well as medium budget films which are commercially successful at the box office," Singh told Indiantelevision.com.

Without divulging details about the investment plan for the film production business, Singh said that the satellite rights of movies produced by MSM will be open for sale to any broadcaster and will not necessarily be aired on the company?s Hindi movie channel, Max.

MSM COO NP Singh added, "As a major Indian television network, we are very happy to enter into this agreement with a leading Indian studio like Eros to develop and release high quality original Indian content to fans of Indian cinema across the world."

It needs to be noted here that Sony Pictures Entertainment had in 2007 entered into a film production and distribution deal with Eros.

Globally, MSM?s parent company Sony Pictures is a big player in movie production and distribution. Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (CTMPG), the motion picture arm of Sony, boasts of a library of with more than 3,500 titles.

Eros International Media MD Sunil Lulla said, "We are looking forward to the potential benefits that both entities will bring to the film with their combined strengths. By extending together our established networks to distribute Bhajathe Raho in India and international markets, we hope to give the film the best release platform."

Eros has off late been entering into various strategic tie-ups. It had recently entered into an agreement with HBO Asia to launch two ad free bi-lingual movie channels, HBO Defined and HBO Hits, in India.

On Tuesday, Eros announced that it had entered into an alliance with Endemol to co-produce three feature films as well as get into original programming for television.

MUMBAI: Max is set to premiere Raaz 3 on 13 January.
The Bollywood horror thriller will air twice this Sunday, at 1 pm and 9 pm.

It is a sequel to Raaz - The Mystery Continues which starred Emraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut. This itself was a sequel to Raaz which starred Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea.

Raaz 3 is directed by Vikram Bhatt and produced by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt. It features Bipasha Basu, Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta in main roles.

The film theatrically released on 7 September and was a moderate success at the box office.

MUMBAI: Gaurav Seth, Head of Marketing at Max, will take additional charge as Head of Marketing at Sony Entertainment Television following Danish Khan?s exit.

Danish Khan has put in his papers as the Head of Marketing SET and is currently serving his notice period.

Multi Screen Media COO NP Singh confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com. "Yes, Danish Khan has quit Sony," he said.

Seth will continue to handle the marketing of both the channels. He will also be responsible for the marketing of MSM?s biggest property, the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Search is on for Seth?s replacement at Max.

"I am looking forward to take the new responsibility (as Marketing Head of SET). I will also be handling marketing of Max till the time there is a replacement for me," Seth said.

"Besides, I will also be handling IPL purely from continuity point of view. I have been handling IPL for the past four years, so it was felt that I should look after it for this season too since the tournament is too close," he added.

The IPL season 6 will be housed under MSM?s sports and entertainment channel Sony Six which went on air in April this year.

Danish Khan could not be reached for comment till the time of filing this report.