2008-08-24

Tollywood Thrives On Sale Of Satellite Rights


The Telugu film industry is now thriving through the revenues generated by the sale of satellite rights. With the mushrooming of TV channels, the race to get high TRP has fuelled severe competition among the channels. The best way to increase the viewership is to telecast films with popular heroes, heroines or directors.

Earlier, only those films which failed at the box office used to be sold to the TV channels. There was also The Andhra Pradesh Film Producers Council’s rule which stated that the satellite rights shouldn’t be sold for at least an year, but now within 90 to 100 days of release, the movies can be seen on TV. Producers are announcing projects with much more conviction nowadays.

Yamadonga, the junior NTR-starrer was bought for Rs 1.75 crore by MAA TV, which is nearly 10 per cent of the Rs 20-crore budget of the film. MAA TV had also obtained the satellite rights of Happy Days for Rs.1.15 crores. The current figures range from Rs 45 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore.

Pawan Kalyan seems to be the hot favourite of TV channels. His Jalsa held the record of being the highest paid Tollywood flick on TV at Rs 3 Crores and his yet-to-be released Puli seems to have broken all records as it has been bagged for Rs 5 crores by a channel.

Kalainger TV got Rajnikant’s Shivaji’s satellite rights for Rs 10 crores. Sources also claim that the bid for the rights of Mahesh Babu – Trivikram film Varudu has already begun even before the shooting is completed. Nagarjuna’s King, due for release soon, is said to have been bought for Rs 4.5 Crores.

Here are some details of the sale of satellite rights of some films :
* Pawan Kalyan’s Puli - Rs 5 crores
* Uday Kiran starrer Gunde Jhallumandi - Rs 2 crores
* Victory Venkatesh starrer Tulasi - Rs 2 crore.
* Pokiri - MAA TV - Rs 1.08 Cr.
* Sainikidu, Annavaram and Munna - ZEE TV - Rs 1.3 crore each.
* Adavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule - ZEE TV -1.4 Crore
* Dubai Seenu - Rs 1.1 crore
* Chiranjeevi’s Stalin - Rs 1.5 crore.
* Yamadonga - Rs 1.75 crore.

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