Mediaone signs JV with Avon Global for advance digital tech

Mediaone Global Entertainment and Avon Global Solurtions would invest Rs 110 crore for a technology product, SecureDuct, that will help in reducing the cost of acquiring a film print and also curb piracy.

"Both the JV partners will invest Rs 110 crore in this state-of-the-art technology product and hope to earn revenue of over Rs 900 crore in the first three-year period," Mediaone Managing Director Suryaraj Kumar told reporters here.

SecureDuct will help reduce the cost of acquiring a film print, which will reduce the cost of acquiring a movie from the current cost of about Rs 80,000.

This is a direct saving for the cinema owners. Not only they save on the print cost, but can earn from other programmes inbuilt, he said.

SecureDuct will provide protection to all methods of movie piracy, including filming the movie on the screen. A video scrambling technology based on frame rates will be deployed to achieve this. Even if it is filmed, SecureDuct can easily deduct from which theatre, at what time the movie was filmed, Avon Global Head Vasanthakrishnan said.

Through this technology, cinema owners will not only save on the print cost, but will also have a chance to earn money by using it through our ad-revenue sharing programme, he said.

Mediaone is a BSE-listed company in the entertainment and media space and has a wholly-owned subsidiary in London. It currently operates in the business of producing regional as well as international feature films, production of television serials, distribution of feature films and exhibition.

Medianone owns 75 theaters in Tamil Nadu and 25 more will be added in 2012, Kumar said.

The JV partner, Avon Global, is primarily into software development, IT consulting and back office work.