Harsh Rohatgi, deputy general manager of Vijay TV, has reasons to smile.
After buying telecast rights for English films-dubbed-in-Tamil such as Titanic and Jurassic Park, the viewership of Star TV's Tamil channel has dramatically shot up.
"These movies have done exceedingly well in the semi-urban and rural areas. They were our top grossers for the channel," says Rohatgi.
Leading Tamil channels like Sun TV, Jaya TV and Vijay TV are making huge profits screening Hollywood action thrillers dubbed in Tamil at primetime.
As Tamil families switch from watching local soaps such as Metti Oalli and Kalki to enjoy Hollywood historical dramas such as Pearl Harbour to Jackie Chan's action drama at home, competition is hotting up among the channels.
The Hollywood films market in India is pegged at Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion). An average of 70 English films are released every year, of which several movies gets dubbed into Tamil and Telugu languages.
Since its initial success with Jackie Chan movies in 2003, Vijay TV has been gradually expanding to reach the rural market. But this year, in face of competition from Sun TV, it has signed up the telecast rights for Rambo II, True Lies and Terror Peak.
The latest to join the Hollywood bandwagon, Sun TV showed Pearl Harbour last month and plans to telecast action movies such as Titanic, Die Hard and Air Force-I in the future.
Says W Hansraj Saxena, vice president, Sun TV, "We would be showing more movies of grandeur such as The Terminator series and Hollowman to our audience." Sun TV's Telugu channel Teja and Malayalam channel Surya also plan to show English movies dubbed in Telugu and Malayalam, respectively, according to Saxena.
While Sun TV has tied up with Columbia Tristar and Buena Vistas International to source its English movies, Vijay TV procures the films from independent studios and through its parent company Star Network.
While Vijay TV has shown movies such as Fist of Fury, Young Master, Gladiator and the Jurassic Park series, Jaya TV has telecast Delta Force, Inferno and Deadly Warrior.
Sources say that at least 200 Hollywood films will be shown on Tamil television channels this year.
Jaya TV sources say that the channels are potentially tapping the semi-urban and rural masses of Tamil Nadu. "Because of the language issue, they have not been able to view them in theatres," says a company source.
Last year, Jaya TV also entered the fray with Deep Rising to popular response.
As viewership rating goes up, advertisers are also scrambling as inventories get full. On an average, these movies attract an average 1,200 to 1,500 seconds of advertisements.
Balaswaminathan, Jaya TV's vice president, marketing, said that about 1,500 seconds of advertisements are aired during these movies. "Since they run over 1,200 seconds, this programme has become profitable," he says.
While none of the three TV channels were willing to disclose the advertisements rates, industry sources say that the cost of advertisements for these dubbed films could be anywhere between Rs 4,000-7,000 for 10 seconds.
Rohatgi said that he had to turn away advertisers as the inventories were full. But with strong competition among the channel players, the advertisement rates are not expected to increase in the near future.
Balaswaminathan of Jaya TV says that the channel sources its movies anywhere between
Rs 3-10 lakh depending upon whether it is a blockbuster movie or has had an average run.
Television Audience Measurement Media Research has given 6.26 Television Viewership Rating to Young Master, screened on Star Vijay last month.
Pearl Harbour, screened on January 23 at Sun TV, scored a 15.71 TVR. On an average, blockbuster movies will garner above 14 TVRs, which is good viewership rating, according to Balaswaminathan.
"There is always a market for quality entertainment, regardless of language. So while we provide high quality Tamil programming, we felt that there was a gap in terms of bringing the best of Hollywood entertainment to our audiences," says Rohatgi.
The dubbing cost for a movie in any of the regional languages varies between Rs 350,000-500,000. Balaswaminathan says Tamil television channels generally purchase English movies which have already been dubbed for cinema theatre releases.
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