Moser Baer is shaking up the home video market with its low pricing. While VCDs are available at Rs 28, DVDs are priced at Rs 34.
Will the market dynamics change as new players like Adlabs hatch plans to enter the business?
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com's Sibabrata Das and Ashwin Pinto, Moser Baer entertainment business CEO Harish Dayani elaborates on how the home video market will never be the same.
Excerpts:
Why did Moser Baer decide to get into the entertainment and home video market? |
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When several home video players like Time have folded up, what made you think that Moser Baer could fix it right? |
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How did you take care of the content? |
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Isn't regional films a significant component of this? |
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But how do you source top content when the big Bollywood studios like Yash Raj Films have set up their own home video labels? |
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Pricing seems to be an important strategy for Moser Baer. How much volumes do you have to reach to make this a profitable business model? |
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When you start buying big Bollywood movies and have to pay a high content cost, will your operating margins not puncture? |
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How do you align with the international studios as they are already having exclusive distribution deals with the other home video players? |
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How are you sprucing up your distribution network?
Most home video businesses have 20-40 distributors across the country. We have 500. We feel that every town must have a distributor. We do not want to depend on a wholesaler in a large town who will cater to a small town. We tell distributors to give the product to retailers in their area. Entertainment product in this country is available in some 20,000 stores. Our product is available in 100,000 shops and we are just two months old. The aim is to take this to a chain of 300,000. |
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What are the margins you are offering to the distributors? |
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How crucial is branding as part of Moser Baer's strategy? |
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Will you have your own stores as part of the branding exercise? |
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How has the deal with Pyramid Saimira helped expand your reach? |
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Are you looking at entering the rental market? |
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How about getting into alliances with broadcasters so that you can acquire wholesome rights? |
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What are the plans on the film production front?
We will also produce movies that we will release for the home video market. This should happen sooner than later. We also plan to get into the film distribution business but at a later stage. |
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Are you looking at producing regional language movies? We have signed with Prakash Raj for three films in Tamil and are also looking at other languages. Our eventual aim is to make films in all languages. |
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How much are you pumping in for your entertainment business? |
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With low pricing, what growth can we expect in the home video sector? Our estimate is that it would grow at four to five times the current size in three years. We want to have a 50 per cent share of this. |
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Is the home video market dynamics up for total change? |
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You have moved into HD DVD. Won't the conflict between the two incompatible formats Blu Ray and HD DVD prevent quick uptake of the technology? |
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Does Moser Baer nurture ambitions of eventually becoming a studio? |