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Indiantelevision.com
MUMBAI: The television and movie content companies are combining in India as a way to scale up their businesses. Eros International Media, the leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry, and Endemol India, producers of some of the most spectacular television content, have entered into a strategic alliance to co-produce three feature films as well as original programming for television.
The deal will allow Endemol to penetrate into the mainstream Bollywood market while Eros gets an opportunity to enter into the television content business. While Endemol is widely known for its versatile TV formats across genres, Eros has a vast film library.
Says Eros International Media Executive Director Jyoti Deshpande, "We both are IP driven companies and Eros having been market leaders in the filmed entertainment arena, while film co-production has its natural synergies, we will also create original high quality compelling television content as digitization takes Indian television into the premium subscription phase. The alliance is founded on the coming together of our respective core competencies in film and television."
As a part of the three film deal, Eros and Endemol will be co-producing an action comedy which will be a remake of a South Indian blockbuster, an original romantic comedy and a comic caper.
The collaboration has earmarked Rs 1 billion to fund these three productions. Targeted at Bollywood enthusiasts across genres, the first film to be made will be a romantic comedy, which will go on floors later this year.
Says Endemol India CEO Deepak Dhar, "After successfully producing content for some of the biggest format shows in the country, we are expanding our portfolio to films and are delighted to partner with leaders in this space. Through this association, we look forward to making a mark on the big screen as well."
Television formats and original programming for television is another area that Eros and Endemol plan to collaborate on. Many of Eros owned filmed Intellectual Property Rights will be considered for adaptation for the television format and vice versa for Endemol owned IP.
The production house, which holds IP rights for various scripted and non-scripted formats, had entered the film production business last year taking the re-make rights for Sujoy Ghosh?s Kahaani.
Endemol India had last year sold 49 per cent stake in the company to Peter Chernin?s CA Media. The strategic investment was raised with the intention of acquiring small production houses and producing films in multiple languages.
Eros recently entered into a deal with HBO for creation of a premium television channel housing English and Hindi movies. "Eros gets associated with two strong brands like HBO and Endemol. But how much of a revenue jump it gets remains to be seen. Endemol, on the other hand, gets a foothold into the Bollywood market. But it is not an exclusive alliance and the confirmed commitment at this stage is for three co-produced movies," says a media analyst.
