Balaji Telefilms Ltd, the Mumbai-based producer of television software, posted its first quarterly loss yesterday. The company swung from a net profit of Rs23.85 crore for Q408 to a net loss of Rs14.62 crore for the corresponding quarter this fiscal. Consolidated net profit dropped 99.14% from Rs95.59 crore, to Rs47…

Negotiations this afternoon failed to resolve the month-long impasse in India’s Hindi film industry, where Bollywood producers and multiplex chains are locked in a tussle over sharing revenues. The standoff has affected both sides badly, with multiplex occupancies down to a trickle and more than 15 films awaiting release. “There…

Business Standard reports that Reliance Big TV, the direct-to-home service of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is in talks with a clutch of marquee private equity firms such as Sequoia Capital, Carlyle Group, KKR as well as US-based DTH firm Direct TV, to offload a 49% stake. Indian laws allow…

It’s a boomtime investment during a slowdown. Bollywood portal Chakpak.com which hopes to make money from advertising and merchandising has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Canaan Partners and the existing seed partner, Accel India, formerly Erasmic Venture Fund. ET puts the funding amount at $5 million. What prompted…

Shemaroo Entertainment, the studio, distribution and production conglomerate has tied up with the Israel Mobile and Communication Association (IMA) to ‘explore mobile entertainment’. IMA claims to be the “nucleus of the Israeli communications industry” and represents 100 portfolio companies that offer solutions and services in communications technologies. Although the report…

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is close to formally launching its iTunes store in India states this BS report. A truncated version of the India store, featuring only iPhone apps has been live for a while. The main meat, which includes music, movies, podcasts and TV shows are conspicuous by their absence.…

P2P TV platform Babelgum is adding what it says is the largest collection of online Bollywood films to its catalogue. Its Colours Of Bollywood channel includes over 100 hours of titles like Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naan and Ishq Hai Tumse, thanks to a deal with distributor WEG India Pictures. Well-financed…

The Sanjay Gaikwad led Indian tech-media group Valuable Group has announced the acquisition of MovieBeam. The release claims the acquisition includes all assets, including trademarks and intellectual property rights which its past suitors, including Disney (NYSE: DIS), Intel (NSDQ: INTC) and Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) amongst others, reportedly spent $200 million…

Its hard to resist a headline like that. Reliance ADAG’s love affair with the Bachchan’s continues, this time in the form a mobile blogging application called MoBlog developed especially for Amitabh Bachchan. The re-designed blog features a mobile shaped left navigation featuring twitter-esque updates from Big B (or possibly his…

Eros International, the film production and distribution giant, posted 47% rise from 2007 in pre-tax profits $45.5 million. Its sales were 70% higher in the last financial year to 113 million dollars. 5 out of the top 10 box office successes were Eros releases with Om Shanti Om becoming the…

Jaman, the international online and video service which is trying to develop a niche in Bollywood/Indian content, has done a large size content deal with Eros Intl., the biggest distributor of Indian movies. The three year deal with a minimum guarantee and backend royalties, gives Jaman access to 100 films…

Kolkata Knight Riders has tied up with Contests2win.com for its website, Kolkataknightriders.com. According to the release, 6 contests are currently live and another 5 are in the pipeline. I tried out Hangman, and failed on all counts. Definitely not an KKR expert. The games will be plugged into a loyalty…

I met Gaurav Dhillon, Founder and CEO of Jaman, on the sidelines of FICCI Frames last month. Jaman (named after an Indian fruit) is a community site around World Cinema content, and I was rather surprised to learn that, for Jaman, India ranks second in terms of traffic. I also…

Video streaming co TinselVision has expanded its online content distribution arrangements with STAR India and other licensors to include streaming content to India as well. Tinselvision had deals with STAR, Zee, B4U, Zoom and others to provide content on demand, and as per the release, is going to announce more…

While writing the previous story on Saavn providing content to Verizon (NYSE: VZ), I did a search on YouTube for the UTV channel, looking for promos of the movie Race. I chanced upon this series of videos of the entire movie up on YouTube (see the clips uploaded by the…

Saavn is providing Bollywood content to Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), as a part of their V Cast Video service in the US. Content includes full length music videos and pre-release video promos. Some movies mentioned in the release include Race, Om Shanti Om, Krazzy 4, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Jab We Met,…

This appears to be a day for entertainment websites - and I wonder if we’re headed for a glut of some sort: It appears that STAR TV has launched an entertainment portal called Starboxoffice.com. On the face of it, the site appears to be fairly similar to BollywoodHungama.com, which also…

The Kareena Kapoor - Saif Ali Khan starrer Tashan (English: Style) appears to be running into hot water with Onyx dragging Hungama and Yash Raj Films (YRF) to court over an alleged breach of contract. The matter, up for hearing on March 31, refers to a joint-venture YRF entered into…

Jaman, a World Cinema community, has launched Jaago, a compilation of four short films - Migration, Blood Brothers, Positive and Prarambha - from directors Vishal Bhardwaj, Farhan Akhtar, Santosh Sivan and Mira Nair. The films are a part of Nair’s project about HIV/AIDS, and has been funded by Bill and…