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HBO joins the English movie
channel bandwagon
Home Box Office
(HBO) is all set to launch on 22 March, 2000. The channel
which boasts to be the first one on cable television when
it started in 1972 claims to be the leader in a lot of areas
not only in programming but also technical, promises the
viewer a variety of entertainment right from blockbuster
hollywood movies to a wide array of entertainment including
various shows mini-series and concerts. The channel will
follow the self-censorship mode and won't feature "after
dark" films.
On gathering eyeballs, Anshuman Misra, Managing Director,
Turner International India, says "Content and programming
will drive the viewers from our competing channels".
HBO which reaches over 47 million viewers in 45 countries
is confident of creating a bang in India. The channel targets
the urban and the semi-urban viewers which amounts to 15
million subscribers though the management is uncertain about
the time frame to reach such a vast amount of viewers. The
initial target is: five million homes in the next six to
seven months. The encrypted channel beaming off PanAmSat-4,
will remain advertisement free for around six months and
thus is not perturbed about the TRPs its programming generates.
The average per subscriber rate is Rs 6.00 but that will
differ from one cable operator to another. The Sceintific
Atlanta PowerVu decoders are being place with cable operators
on payment of a deposit of Rs 10,000.
HBO which lacks distribution network will face a tough task
of reaching the desired penetration. A distribution team
of 20, along with independent distributors, is working on
taking the channel further into urban homes.
Misra expects HBO to contribute two-thirds of Turner's subscription
revenues when in full steam. It might well get that, but
the channel will have a tough battle on its hands what with
Star Movies all the rage and Zee Movies being launched yesterday
as a free service. The additional advantage that Zee TV
has is that it owns the cable TV netowrk Siticable. The
third major rival is the local cable channel - airing pirated
English movies - operated by the cable operator for his
subscribers.
Misra is not worried however. "Our content will rule," says
Misra.
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