CABLE MOVIE CHANNEL ANNOUNCES 3.7 MILLION SUBS

CVO, a Hindi cable movie channel co-promoted by the Hinduja-run IndusInd Media, announced that it had managed to garner 3.7 million subs on completion of its second year of operation. The channel, delivered via VHS videocassette in 60 Indian metros currently, is readying to enter the state of Haryana and add an additional 50,000 subs through exclusive deals with cable operators in five or six cities.

Each cable operator pays anywhere from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 a month as licence fee for the channel, depending on whether he is simul-casting it with Mumbai's schedule or not. Should the cable operator choose to relay CVO on a deferred basis the fee is lower. Being privately owned, Cable Video India Ltd, the company running the channel reveals no financials. Sources estimate that CVO had garnered advertising revenues in the region of Rs 100-150 million in the past year. Viewership data indicates that cable channels run by cable operators (with a large proportion of them showing pirated Hindi and English movies) are even more popular than satellite TV entertainment channels like Zee TV and Sony Entertainment.

TV monitoring system, INTAM data shows that cable movie channels generated a viewership of 21.60% in September 1998. CVO, however, doesn't belong to the pirated movie channel genre as it telecasts movies within 90-180 days of theatrical release after paying rights owners licence fees. CVIL has access to a library of over 3,500 Hindi films. Says CVIL CEO Ram Hingorani: "The financial success of CVO is based on its successful exploitation of the cable channel segment through its simul-casting of a blockbuster movie in over 60 cities. This fact has proved to be a boon for sceptical advertisers, who though aware of the power of the cable channel, did not have an option prior to the advent of CVO."