DTH premiere – What they all say?

Report by Raven

Kamal Haasan's DTH premier plan for Vishwaroopam is getting a lot of resistance from theatre owners in Tamil Nadu and multiplexes in North India. Kamal is making a whirlwind tour to promote the movie rally support by allaying overwhelming concerns against DTH. We have listed below the views of each group of stakeholders,

SUPPORTING DTH

Kamal Haasan

• Kamal believes that DTH premiere will not affect box-office collection as only 3% of the people in Tamil Nadu have DTH connections. According to prediction, only around 1.5% percent of the people are expected to subscribe for the Vishwaroopam DTH.

• Kamal feels that the film would reach a wider section of audience, as many people do not have time to watch the film in theatres. At present, most of them are watching the films via pirated sources.

• This will in turn reduce piracy as people have legal source to watch the movie even before the theatrical release.

• The film is elegantly priced on DTH (it is priced at Rs 1,000). Even if people spend money and watch the film on DTH, it is just going to act as a trailer. Also, adds that the movie viewing experience can be best enjoyed on the big screens.

Producers

• Most of the producers support Kamal Haasan in his decision to have a DTH premiere. They see it as a new revenue model and also believe that it will not affect the collections in the theatres.

• They believe that having a DTH premier can help them recover a huge sum of money even before the theatrical release. This would help them to set new benchmarks on the financial front.

DTH operators

• Of course, DTH operators are supporting the move by Kamal Haasan as they see the possibility of making huge profits.

• They are also hoping to acquire more customers if more films are regularly released on DTH networks.

• They assure that they have adequate technological measures to prevent the premier show from recording by any means. Even if it is recorded with a HD camera, the source can be identified with the help of random sequence, that would be unique for every customer.

AGAINST DTH

Theatre Owners

• Theatre owners are mostly against the DTH premiere. They have decided to ban all the films that have DTH premieres. Those films will not have a theatrical release at all.

• In North, PVR cinemas is steadfast about not screening Vishwaroop. They are also rallying support against Vishwaroop by talking to other multiplex chains.

• Theatre owners are concerned that the people would gradually stop coming to the theatres when most of the films take the DTH route. They also fear that having a DTH premier would hugely affect the opening collections.

Cable Operators

• Cable operators are equally irked with Kamal’s DTH plans. They feel that people would hop from cable connections to DTH connections for watching the new films even before the release.

NEUTRAL about DTH

Directors

• Due to respect for Kamal, many directors have remained neutral. Bharathiraja is the one of the few directors who has come out in the open supporting Kamal Haasan.
• Many directors have concerns that audience may not be able to appreciate the nuances when watched at home. Film's visual appeal will be compromised when seen on the small screen instead of the big screen with realistic sound effects.

Government

• Kamal Haasan already rallied support from the government before announcing the plan since there could be a potential loss in entertainment tax revenue for the government if movies start releasing in DTH.  Government is taking a wait and watch approach.

Public

• The people are yet to get a clear picture of what is in store for them. While a section of people might like to catch up with the film before its actual release in the theatres, many still prefer to watch the movie on the big screens.

• The biggest concern for people in Tamil Nadu is the unscheduled power cuts. Except for Chennai, most cities and towns suffer a 12-16 hours of power cut and people are apprehensive to invest Rs 1000 in the premiere show. What will happen if there is a power cut when the premiere is underway?