The Hindu Business Line : Tamil channels ride high on dubbed English movies

SUN TV, leader in the Tamil general entertainment space, has started airing English movies dubbed in Tamil, in what is seen as a response to rival Star Vijay's success with such films last year.

The flagship channel of the Sun Network on Sunday telecast Pearl Harbour in Tamil in the same time slot (11:30 a.m.) that Vijay uses to air its dubbed movies.

There are more top films coming up, said the Sun TV's Vice-President, Mr W. Hansraj Saxena, listing out titles such as the Terminator series, Titanic, Die Hard, Air Force 1, among others.

Sun TV will have access to over 750 films, thanks to its tie-ups with companies such as Columbia TriStar and Buena Vista International. Finalising its alliance with the latter last month, the media house's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Kalanidhi Maran, is reported to have said that the move would help "fulfil the increasing sophisticated tastes of Indian viewers."

Mr Saxena said dubbed English movies would attract newer audience categories, in addition to the regulars who watch the channel.

The media house is planning to create a regular slot on Sun, as also feature such movies in its sister channel KTV; dubbing films in Malayalam and Telugu is next on the agenda. Those will be featured in Surya and Gemini channels.

Vijay TV's tryst with dubbed Hollywood movies started in June 2003 with a series of Jackie Chan flicks. It claims the dubbed version of the film Titanic recorded more than 50 per cent channel share (in Tamil Nadu) for that time slot in February last year, when it was telecast.

Some of the films have recorded TVRs (television ratings) of 12-13, says a source in the media planning business; TVR is a measure which indicates what percentage of the potential TV audience watched a programme.

A study of Vijay's top-10 programmes by TVRs between November 28, 2004, and January 15, 2005, shows the domination of the dubbed English movies. In fact, movies such as The Young Master and City Hunter come in the top five, albeit with lowered TVRs bordering 6, according to TAM figures.

In spite of this, they have helped Vijay, says the source, adding that the ad rates for such movies is likely to increase in the near future now. Apart from a couple of other shows, the best rates for Vijay are derived from the dubbed movies, and they may be anything over Rs 5,000 per 10-second slots.

Late last year, Jaya TV, the number two Tamil general entertainment channel for most of 2004, also started airing dubbed English movies in its Saturday night movie slot. It has fared well, according to Mr K. Balaswaminathan, Vice-President (Marketing).

"It's a new concept but we want to try out everything," he said. He believes it will help attract newer audiences, especially those outside the city who otherwise wouldn't watch an English movie. This has brought in new advertisers too, he said.

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