Moser Baer enters Chennai Home Video market with 101 Tamil Titles

New Delhi: India's largest and world's second largest optical storage manufacturer Moser Baer, today announced the launch of its new initiative in content distribution in Chennai, which would mark the extension of the company's maiden entry into the entertainment industry through the Indian home video market. (See: Moser Baer to enter into home entertainment market)

The company will release video content on DVD and Video CD formats using its proprietary and patented technology, at Rs28 and Rs34 for VCD and DVD formats respectively — prices that could well drive out rampant video piracy. Moser Baer India is in final negotiations to acquire copyrights / exclusive licenses.

Veteran popular Tamil actor Kamal Haasan launched the first title with over 101 Tamil from a library of over 1,000 titles, both from old and new films. Moser Baer says that this is the first time that a launch of such an unprecedented scale has taken place in the Southern state.

While all the titles are being introduced in VCD format, 12 key titles are introduced in DVD format while a new hit Tamil film —Ullam Ketkume will be available both in VCD and DVD formats.

The launch in Tamil Nadu will be followed by Moser Baer opening its first franchise outlet at Puducherry (Pondicherry) on 11 January, 2007, at which chief minister Rangasamy is expected to inaugurate the premises.

The company has lined up 41 distributors in Tamil Nadu who will make the stocks available to around 7,000 retail outlets to start with.

The company had announced the formation of the home entertainment division in December 2006, to bring out low cost, original VCDs and DVDs. The division, based in Mumbai, with a presence in all major metros as well as in smaller towns through a three-tiered channel will take advantage of the Moser Baer production capability and distribution network.

Acording to Ratul Puri, ED, Moser Baer India, "This initiative is poised to bring a paradigm change in the home video market in Chennai. We clearly recognise the tremendous opportunity here and the place of the Tamil cinema in not only the Indian but the global arena is a widely accepted and applauded fact.

"We believe this will lead to much higher consumption of content on home video, and encourage people to build libraries. We have planned distribution to reach virtually every town where there is a movie loving family. Our rich library, world-class packaging and production, and unbeatable value propositions for customers will surely propel Moser Baer and this new venture into the top end of the market in a very short time," Puri added

According to, Harish Dayani, CEO, Entertainment Business, "This initiative represent an excellent opportunity to leverage our optical media strengths in patented and proprietary technology, capacity and costs enabling us to offering high quality titles at very attractive price points between Rs 28 - Rs 34 for VCD/DVD. I believe that at these price points, we will redefine the home video market in India."

The Indian home video market has not grown at the pace that it should have considering the fact that India is the world's largest producer and consumer of films. Rampant piracy and high fragmentation in this business have unfortunately impacted the industry.

According to research, India has over 26 million DVD/ VCD users, growing at a healthy clip of over 25%, and comprising about a fourth of all TV ownership in the country. Despite the huge potential market, home video accounts for a mere 7% of the total film revenues of Rs. 7,900 crore. The US home video market is almost the same revenue size as that of the theatrical market.

The new initiative will release titles in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi languages. With 18 CFAs, 400 distributors and a dedicated sales force, this division will also set up owned and branded outlets at about 300 locations in addition to its alliances with large format stores