Balaji to sell show rights to Indonesian firm

Television content provider Balaji Telefilms Ltd said on Monday it has signed a preliminary agreement with an Indonesian firm to offer rights for a part of its content library, for about Rs 15 million.

Balaji, whose serials are on top of Indian television charts, said the move was part of its efforts to exploit its library internationally.

It is selling half its library of Hindi programming, equivalent to 500 hours or 1,000 episodes, to Indonesian software distributor PT Menara Media Sakti, for one telecast and one repeat, Ajay Patadia, president, corporate affairs, told Reuters.

The rights will revert to Balaji afterward, he said.

The Mumbay-based firm, founded by yesteryear Bollywood filmstar Jeetendra Kapoor, has over 2,800 hours of library content in Hindi, Tamil, Telegu and Kannada languages.

"We have sold parts of our content in the past also internationally, but not to this extent," Patadia said, adding that the firm planned to enter into more such deals.

"We have been getting enquiries from Malaysia and Singapore too," he said.

Balaji's shares rose 3.23 per cent to Rs 86.4 in early trade while the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange index was up 0.45 per cent.