A while back, Aamir Khan became the talk of the town thanks to his nude appearance on the poster of his next release PK. Though the film is a long way off from its theatrical release, its creating enough buzz in the trade circles and among audiences. If that wasn't enough, we at Bollywood Hungama bring you this exclusive newsbreak. The news is that the satellite rights of PK will be sold for a whopping Rs. 85 crores. Interestingly, while this amount may certainly make a few sit up and wonder, there is a catch. In fact the makers of the film have locked the satellite deal at the said amount with a guarantee that on its release, PK will amass a domestic theatrical collection of Rs. 300 crores nett. What strikes us is the fact that last year's much talked about and hyped film Dhoom 3 missed the Rs. 300 crore nett mark by a good Rs. 20 or so crores. Though the box-office still remains a major deciding factor in terming a film a hit or flop, there has been a considerable slow down in this phase of acquisition with television networks opting to refrain from striking a deal before a film's release. Thus forcing, producers and filmmakers to first prove their mettle at the box-office window before gorging on the enormous payout. Looking back we see that though a film's success is measured by its overall performance (collection) at the box office, the sale of the film's satellite rights definitely helped the producers recover a massive chunk of their investments even before the film releases. In fact in the past we have witnessed deals like in the case of Salman Khan, where a popular TV network willingly shelled out a whooping Rs. 500 crores on acquiring the satellite rights of the star's films that will release between 2012- 2017; with the final pay-out going even higher depending on the film's collection slab at the box-office. However of late, despite whopping collections at the box-office, the producers are finding it difficult to find buyers for the film's satellite rights. Case in point being the recent spate of big hits like 2 States, Highway, Heropanti, Shaadi Ke Side Effects and Ek Villain to name a few. While some have found takers after months, a majority of others are still awaiting a satellite deal. But then on the flip side there are other films like Krrish 3, Chennai Express, Dhoom 3, Kick whose satellite rights have been sold at high prices even before the theatrical release. Thanks to this, the marketing and promotions of a film before its release has become even more crucial now, forcing producers to make a gradual but definitive shift in budget allocations with almost 20-30% of a film's total budget being assigned for promotions. Meanwhile, the television networks too seem to be focusing on a slab-wise segmentation, with the remuneration for the satellite rights being in direct proportion to overall box-office collections of a film. This has led to a shift in the producer's tactics to sell the satellite rights, with most choosing to bundle up and sell multiple films from their banner as a package deal. But with networks still reticent about picking up a film simply for the fact that they getting more for a lesser price or because the film big stars in it, the only way that films will get a good satellite henceforth is if the content has repeat value for television viewing audiences in India.

• published: 19 Sep 2014
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