Adlabs - Reliance's Entertainment Vehicle

R-ADAG - Eyes Entertainment Pie

Strategy for the entertainment sector is to have a dominant presence across films, TV, internet and mobile. Entertainment is becoming digital and Reliance’s strategy will reflect that, said Rajesh Sawhney, COO, Reliance Entertainment. Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s (R-ADAG) strategy for the entertainment sector is to have a dominant presence across four media — films, television, internet protocol television (IPTV) and mobile. Radio, too, will be a focus area for the company, as it has already won 45 licences through its recently acquired company Adlabs. Sawhney said Rs 165 crore had been pumped in for bagging the radio licences and another Rs 150 crore is being invested as capital expenditure for setting up radio stations. He is confident that all the stations will be operational by the end of this year.

As for the big screen business, Sawhney pointed out that digital cinema will be Adlabs’ thrust, as this is going to dominate the movie world in the future and, hence, being a first mover in this format will help the company rake in good revenue. “We are in the process of finalising the blueprint for digital cinemas, and are evaluating various technologies to arrive at an appropriate one,” he added. The company will look at launching its digital cinema initiative in the C and D-class cities and rural towns. It will adopt a business model — in an advertising-supported form or jointly owned cinema houses.

On the direct-to-home service front, the group is optimistic about a good beginning of its DTH service division, Reliance Bluemagic, by Diwali this year. It is expecting allotment of six transponders on INSAT 4B by July this year. According to industry reports, R-ADAG is ready to make huge investment in its DTH broadcasting network. The group is also expected to unveil its IPTV initiative this year. Trial runs are currently on with Microsoft, which is testing the DTH service, a company spokesperson said.

R-ADAG, which is currently into enterprise broadband, is in the process of expanding into consumer broadband. It is set to enter consumer homes with broadband internet service through its fibre-optic backbone, this year. The group is looking at the same connectivity to be used to deliver entertainment content such as channels and video-on-demand, among others. The mobile initiative, which, according to Sawhney, will be the driver among all the businesses, will soon see the launch of clip-oriented services with 50 more applications in addition to the exisiting 100 applications that Reliance CDMA mobile offers.

- Business Standard