Cochin : The Kerala Film Producers Association, in association with the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce, will launch a general entertainment channel by January 2016.
The aim is to end the monopoly of the Kerala Television Federation (a combine of television channels operating from the State), which has gained control over the industry by fixing the satellite rights of movies on their own terms ignoring the interests of the producers, said Vinayan, filmmaker and chairman of the proposed channel.
The venture will be run by the Kochi-based Kerala Film Producers Television Ltd and it will start operations with an initial capital of about Rs.300 crore.
Members of the association of producers will hold 51 per cent stake in the company.
Mr. Vinayan said the producers will have the option to give the satellite rights of their movies to the company or else route it through the producers association to other entertainment channels by paying up a service charge.
Stating that a new criterion will be worked out to fix the satellite rights of movies, P.V. Basheer Ahamed, Vice Chairman of the channel, said that even good actors and technicians were denied work in the industry alleging that they had no satellite value. “We will stop the practice of giving huge commission to the middlemen who negotiated with the entertainment channels for sale of the satellite rights of various movies,” he said.
