Rushil
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MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM) is gearing up to launch the high-definition version of its popular action-focused English entertainment channel AXN India within four months. The company has received the licence from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), and the channel will be launched soon. “We have got the licence and work is on. The HD channel should be on air in the next three/four months,” a source in the company said. MSM has also obtained a licence for SET One, a Korean content channel that MSM’s parent company Sony Pictures TV Networks Asia runs in other Asian markets. The launch of SET One, however, is some time away. “Currently, there is a lot of flux in the market. While the subscription revenue has not kicked in yet, the ad cap of 12 minutes has already squeezed the revenues. Moreover, channels in the English entertainment category have not been able to increase the ad rates. In such a scenario, we are evaluating multiple options. We have got the licence but I don’t think we are in any hurry to launch SET One,” the source added. MSM also has its flagship channel Sony Entertainment Television in HD. There are no plans yet of launching the HD version of MSM’s other popular channel, SAB. In an earlier interaction, AXN India business head Sunil Punjabi had mentioned that the content on AXN was ideally suited for the large screen and high resolution and thus, the launch of AXN HD in India was an obvious next step. “We hope to take the step in the near future as the services are already available in many other parts of Asia,” he had said then. However, the company had to wait for the licence. AXN India has completed 17 years of operation in India. Recently, it announced a content acquisition deal with CBS Studios International. In the past, it had aired shows like ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ and ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’. It has now acquired five more shows—‘Elementary’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Blue Bloods’, ‘Hawaii Five-0’ and ‘Reckless’, adding approximately 100 hours of content airing close to the US every year.
Read more at: MSM plans to launch AXN HD in third quarter of 2014 | TelevisionPost.com | TelevisionPost.com
Read more at: MSM plans to launch AXN HD in third quarter of 2014 | TelevisionPost.com | TelevisionPost.com
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