Vishwaroopam moves ahead with DTH plan

After Kamal pausing his DTH plans following the uprising by theatre owners, Kamal Haasan formally met the Producers & chamber officials today to explain his plan for Vishwaroopam's Direct to Home Premiere plan through DTH operators. Kamal explained the new stream of revenue model and how this is an impending technological development that film industry should embrace. Kamal also addressed concerns about piracy by explaining that the DTH premiere will be done with encryption technology that will prevent any recording. Producers unanimously supported Kamal Haasan's decision to go with DTH plan. 

Vishwaroopam DTH to premiere on TV at 9 PM on January 10?

Vishwaroopam's DTH premiere will happen 8 hours prior to the film's release in theatres. The DTH operators have not finalized the price. It is expected to be priced at Rs.1000/- per home targeting large family of 4 or more who usually don't go to the theatres. This radical move by Kamal Haasan to premiere Vishwaroopam through DTH has created a series of domino effect in the industry,

• Due to the disruptive effect of Vishwaroopam, DTH operators are expected to get into an aggressive promotional campaign to acquire new customers and existing customers from Sun Direct's market.

• Due to DTH service provider's aggressive plan to penetrate Tamil Nadu market with Vishwaroopam premiere, market leader Sun Direct has now opened up negotiation with Studio Green to premiere Alex Pandian in Tamil and Telugu on DTH. The industry members say that the ball is now in Studio Green's court to accept the offer for Rs. 20 Crores. 

• It is reported that Jaya TV may be upset about Kamal Haasan's decision to go ahead with the DTH release prior to release. This is expected to substantially lower the value of satellite rights. Jaya TV is expected to renegotiate or revisit the contract written for satellite rights.

• Theatre Owners and distributors who were planning to ban Vishwaroopam theatrical release are convening meetings at district level after Producers have joined hands with Kamal Haasan. Theatre association key members such as Abirami Ramanathan and Trichy Sridhar have not issued a public statement on this topic yet. With other Pongal release producers also negotiating for DTH, theatre owners will not be able to ban all Pongal release movies which will further accelerate the move towards DTH model. Theatre Owners have called for an emergency meeting to decide on the next steps today.

[READ Breaking Controversy - Vishwaroopam release in TV]