MUMBAI: It was hardly a couple of  months or so ago that Multi Screen Media (MSM – rebranded earlier this month as Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd - SPNIL)   announced that it was getting into bed with global sports broadcast major ESPN in India to launch a few sports channels and sports initiatives.

Now MSM has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. The duo is entering into a strategic alliance under which the two will explore opportunities in co-produced- television, digital and film content. 

MSM   has also acquired the TV rights of the film Dilwale which is expected to have a fabulous run at the box office as it heralds the return of the hit nineties on-screen couple SRK and Kajol. Directed by Rohit Shettyy, it also has Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in pivotal roles.

 “Over the last 20 years that we’ve been in the industry, we’ve served some of the best cinema and general entertainment to viewers worldwide,” says MSM CEO NP Singh says “As a network, our focus remains aligned to becoming the first choice in television and digital entertainment. Towards that end, this alliance of MSM and Red Chillies is expansive and pans a spectrum of co-produced content not only across television and digital but also films. Moreover, this partnership adds to MSM’s already extensive library of blockbuster films.”

Adds Red Chillies Entertainments CEO Venky Mysore: “We haves consistently pushed the boundaries across the spectrum, creating and producing entertaining content and ensuring it engages audiences worldwide on all the different platforms. In a first for us, we are entering into a partnership with MSM, that will explore content production across different platforms - TV, digital and films.”

“MSM under NP Singh seems to be getting into higher gear over the last few months,” There’s a new buzz of energy going through the organization.,” says a media observer. “The ESPN partnership and now the Red Chillies alliance are clear indicators that the network has put the troubles of the past – like the ill-timed Sony Pal launch, and the lack of big fiction or nonfiction shows on its main GEC Sony - behind it. A new leadership has been brought into Sony –the mother GEC very recently. The alliance with Red Chillies, especially to create televised as well as digital content could provide it with that magic sauce that it badly needs to get Sony into the front runner status amongst Hindi entertainment channels. The fact that Red Chillies has had limited exposure to television and digital content could mean it could bring in fresh thinking into the programming.”