Reliance Adag Launches Bigflicks

[coolrajiv 1]

Source - http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Relianc...-83004-643.html

Reliance ADAG's BigFlicks.com today launched its on-demand movie download service.

BigFlicks aims to offer the biggest range of quality Indian entertainment panning across languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, and Kannada, available either as 'download-to-own' or for 'free streaming'.

The company will also offer 'download-to-rent' and 'subscription' services as part of its portfolio of operations.

Besides, BigFlicks is introducing innovative entertainment solutions to make Indian cinema, television, and music accessible to overseas Non Resident Indians (NRIs) and Indian cinema lovers both in India and abroad.

The movie rental services via online home delivery and retail network will be rolled out beginning next month.

BigFlicks hopes to be the world's largest Indian entertainment content library, with plans to acquire more than 2,000 titles in one year.

"BigFlicks is a big step in the evolution of the Indian movie industry," said Rajesh Sawhney, president of Reliance Entertainment.

"The online movie download service will work well for the nearly 25 million NRIs -- students and working professionals living overseas, who follow Indian entertainment on a regular basis, connecting with their homeland primarily through Indian movies and music," said Kamal Gianchandani, chief operating officer of Bigflicks.com.

[Arun 795]

Looks like the price varies between $2 to $15 per movie.

Available for download: WHOLE WORLD

Encryption Bitrate: 1.5 Mbps

File Size: 1.361 Gb

Estimated Download Duration: 124 min.

Recommended Bandwidth: Above 1 Mbps

USD 9.99

Play back validity 72 Hours

Not sure how successfull it would be when torrents are easily available these days !

They do have plans for offline biz too...

The other revenue model of BigFlicks will be physical lending of CDs and DVDs. It plans to open 100 stores in top 50 cities in phases. In the first phase, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Pune will see the BigFlicks outlets before September-end. The number of outlets will go up to 500 in two years.

[coolrajiv 1]

Looks like the price varies between $2 to $15 per movie.

Available for download: WHOLE WORLD

Encryption Bitrate: 1.5 Mbps

File Size: 1.361 Gb

Estimated Download Duration: 124 min.

Recommended Bandwidth: Above 1 Mbps

USD 9.99

Play back validity 72 Hours

Not sure how successfull it would be when torrents are easily available these days !

They do have plans for offline biz too...

The other revenue model of BigFlicks will be physical lending of CDs and DVDs. It plans to open 100 stores in top 50 cities in phases. In the first phase, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Pune will see the BigFlicks outlets before September-end. The number of outlets will go up to 500 in two years.

Ya i also think that this wont be a success as torrents r easily available these days

[amtrag 20]

Agree. But only problem...rather limitation, with torrents is that somebody else needs to be seeding...and also, it is not "on-demand" in the true sense of the word. If its an older movie, then you have to request someone to seed it.

Compare this with the convenience of free home delivery and pick-up which they are going to start shortly.

And by the way, I have recently subscribed to seventymm.com and am now enjoying the movies sitting at home (I've got one month free unlimited promo plan).

[Arun 795]

Anil Ambani will spend $100m on Bigflicks venture

DNAmoney

Thursday, August 30, 2007 03:47 IST

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Entertainment Ltd (REL) has added online distribution of entertainment content to its portfolio. It has launched an internet property (IP) under its Big brand, christened www.Bigflicks.com

In addition, REL plans to foray into the offline DVD/VCD rental business, launching retail stores using the same brand - Bigflicks.

Reliance Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney said the rental business will be launched in September this year.

"The first three outlets under the Bigflicks brand will come up in Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh. We are looking at 100 outlets by the end of this financial year and 500 stores in three years," Sawhney said.

While the average Bigflicks stores will be spread over 400-500 sq ft area, the flagship stores will be much larger in size and would go up to 1,000 sq ft. The company is looking at a mix of leased and owned stores though it's not clear at the moment if franchising as an option will also be explored at a later stage.

Kamal Gianchandani, COO, home entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, said the overall plan is to invest $100 million in both the ventures.

"Of the total sum, 75% has been earmarked for the offline venture (DVD/VCD rental business) and the balance will be for online," said Gianchandani.

The revenues, according to Gianchandani, will largely come from the online venture and a considerable proportion from the rental business. The management will primarily look at subscriptions to drive revenues for the rental business.

With companies like seventymm.com and a few others already operating in the DVD/VCD rental business in the country, will REL also look at inorganic growth for faster penetration in this? "We are open to the idea but I don't think the time is right to make any concrete comments on this subject," said Gianchandani.

The venture will be initially funded through internal accruals with possibilities of other funding options at a later stage though nothing has been finalised on that as yet. The company intends to breakeven with their online and offline ventures in two years from launch.

Working in tandem with the home entertainment division of major companies like Saregama India Ltd and others, Bigflicks will procure rental rights for the DVD/VCD being distributed by these companies. REL intends to offer over 6,000 titles across movie genres. The movie offerings will be increased to over 17,000 titles available at all the 100 outlets across the country.

As far as their online content distribution venture is concerned, the approach is very much on the lines of Rajshri.com and STAR India's Indyaondemand.com.

In fact, the target audience and business model are also very similar and offers entertainment content for free online streaming (with advertisements) and for download on rent or to own (without advertisements).

The management will include TV serials and music videos besides Hollywood and other international movies. Targeting the 25 million-strong NRI segment in the first year of its operations, the markets being catered to include North America, the UK, Canada, Middle East, South East Asia, Europe and Australia and the movie purchases are priced between $4.49 and $19.99.

Kamal Gianchandani, COO, home entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, talks to Business Standard on the company’s game plan. Excerpts:

Your company plans to adopt the subscription model for the DVD/VCD rental business. Tell us how the model will work?

Customers will have to register to avail of the service. We are in the process of structuring various packages. As of now, we have thought of two plans.

In the first plan, customers can rent a DVD for a maximum of 30 days and in the second plan, one can rent two DVDs.

The price points can vary from Rs 200 to Rs 275 for the one-DVD plan and between Rs 350 and Rs 425 for the two-DVD plan. The price points are likely to vary from city to city. For instance, in Mumbai, the prices may be high by Rs 20.

How long will it take for you to deliver the DVDs from the time one places the order via SMS or by calling up the call centre?

In 90 per cent of the cases, it will take four hours, while it will take six to eight hours for the rest.

Are you in talks with broadcasters and do they include Zoom and NDTV?

Yes, we are talking to all leading broadcasters, including Zoom and NDTV, for them to air their show on the BigFlicks platform. Apart from that, we will create original content via Adlabs Films, Big Entertainment and Adlabs Synergy.

Will all stores be operated by Reliance Entertainment or will you consider franchising?

Initially, we will operate the stores. We will leverage on our other entertainment entities such as Zapak’s outlets, Reliance WebWorlds, where we will house a separate space adjacent to each other.

In the future, we will look at franchising.

What percentage of revenues do you expect from the online rentals and stores?

Even though BigFlicks has been launched prior to the rental stores, its contribution initially will be 30 per cent, while rentals will contribute 70 per cent. This will change and, going forward, the stores will contribute 40 per cent, while 60 per cent will come from the portal.

What is the revenue model for BigFlicks.com?

While downloading to own and rent is at a charge, streaming is free of cost. The revenues, in case of the streaming option, will come from advertisements. We are looking at advertisements in two ways — pre-roll and post-roll.

In the pre-roll model brands, can advertise before the streaming begins and once the ad is complete, the streaming of the film begins. In post-roll, the ad will be shown in the middle of the film. In a three-hour film, we are looking at selling not more than 2-2.5 minutes of commercial time.

[copperco2 24]

if we have to consider the data transfer involoved in downloading or streaming, do you guys feel that it will be feasible venture at this point of time..

clips and ringtones are okay.. but movies?

[Honest 836]

^^^

Online data transfer / streaming will suit to only those with unlimited internet connections. Other subscribers who are on 1GB OR 2 GB plans could not opt for this.

Regards.