I have to agree with
@dino29 bro here. True, Star is guilty of repeating Singham relentlessly, and airing Chhichhore at odd times of the night, and Star Gold Select has not premiered a single new movie (other than the teenage trafficking drama Love Sonia) since the first year of its launch in 2017.
But Zee and Star at least have an &xplor HD and Star Gold Select respectively, whereas Sony, instead of launching a new HD channel to cater to such stuff, has not done anything of the sort. Zee and Star each have a primary HD movie channel (Zee Cinema HD and Star Gold HD), a secondary channel (&pictures HD and UTV HD, as well as Star Gold 2 HD subject to NTO 2.0). Whereas Sony and Viacom18 have only a single HD channel, namely Sony Max HD and Colors Cineplex HD. As far as Max HD is concerned, 50% of its schedule is still South, especially because of Allu Arjun.
No problem with that if it works for Sony, as @dino29 bro has explained many times. But that means that the other 50% has to be shared by popular Bollywood (TZH, PK, Kabir Singh, PPAW), South legendary grossers (Baahubali 1/2, KGF), and some 1970s/1980s films at odd hours of the night.
I will not be commenting much on Sony Max 2 and Sony Wah here.
Max 2 is doing a good job by itself, but not getting enough support from Max, Max HD and Wah, the way Zee Cinema/&pictures is getting good support from Zee Classic, Zee Bollywood, Zee Anmol Cinema and &xplor HD.
Consulting my table of satellite rights, going year by year since 2015 for the past 5 years, here is the list of Sony network movies that are not getting as many airings as they should, whether on Max, Max HD, Max 2 or Wah. If they were with Star or Zee, they would have been given a lot of time by UTV HD/Star Gold Select and &pictures/&xplor HD respectively.
Ironically many of these movies have a so-called #TheMaking special episode that Max HD shows during late night hours, but not the movies themselves. Example: Tumhari Sulu. Bollywood Satellite Acquisitions (2010–present).xlsx
2015: Khamoshiyan, Dum Laga Ke Haisha (YRF), Detective Bymokesh Bakshy (YRF), Mr. X, Piku (shown sometimes), ABCD 2 (shown sometimes on Max International), Hamari Adhuri Kahani, Phantom, Katti Batti, All Is Well.
I still remember the promos of all these movies when they were premiered on Sony Max in 2015. There was no Max HD at the time.
2016: Wazir, Saala Khadoos, Rocky Handsome, Tera Suroor, Fan (YRF), Azhar (SPN Productions), Sarbjit, Junooniyat, Te3n, Tum Bin 2, Wajah Tum Ho, Befikre (YRF).
2017: Noor, Meri Pyaari Bindu (YRF), Sachin: A Billion Dreams, Raabta, Bank Chor (YRF Y-Films), Mubarakan, Qaidi Band (YRF), Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi, Poster Boys, Bhoomi, Simran, Chef, Tumhari Sulu, Firangi.
2018: Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (shown sometimes), Hate Story IV, Hichki (YRF), Blackmail (shown in the Irrfan tribute but not otherwise), Fanney Khan, Soorma (SPN Productions), Nawabzaade, Karwaan (shown in the Irrfan tribute but not otherwise), Sui Dhaaga (YRF), Jalebi, Thugs of Hindostan (YRF).
2019: Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, Setters, Game Over, Malaal, Hume Tumse Pyaar Kitna, Arjun Patiala, Khandaani Shafakhana, Batla House, Section 375 (shown sometimes), Pagalpanti, Satellite Shankar.
