Star, Utv To Co-Produce Twelve Movies
Star TV and UTV will co-produce 12 movies as part of their co-production initiative, and 20th Century Fox, the US studio, will distribute the movies internationally.
The initiative envisages the Rupert Murdoch-owned Star TV picking up the satellite rights of the movies, while UTV will have the 'world-theatrical' rights.
The deal involves films that range from commercial Hindi movies to regional movies and international co-productions.
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While confirming the move, UTV promoter and chairman Ronnie Screwvala said: "We are definitely interested in commercial Hindi movies and not looking at making arty (sic) films".
Though he did not give details of the projects, he said the two companies have set a deadline of March 2001 for the deal to be finalised.
One outcome of the deal will be that 20th Century Fox, which currently distributes foreign films in India, will be now working in the opposite direction -- the company is looking at marketing the co-produced local movies overseas.
The company's move is prompted by statistics on the number of non-resident Indians (NRIs) spread all over the world.
"They have shown an interest in distributing local Indian films abroad," Screwvala said.
Star TV and UTV have been negotiating to jointly co-produce Hindi movies for a long time. The latest initiative will go a long way in increasing the Star's library. Star TV reportedly wanted to finance the pre-production as well the post-production of these projects and use these movies for television premieres as well as release them at theatres.
Meanwhile, UTV has also restructured its board and accommodated outside members as part corporate governance prior to its domestic listing for which it will file with the Sebi this month-end.
According to Screwvala, "The reconstitution of the board is very much on line with practices followed by companies abroad. The board now has more 'outsiders' than 'insiders'."
The new board members of UTV include former Pepsi India chief and at present with Seagram in Singapore, Ramesh Vangal, Star India's Peter Mukerjea, Suketu Shah of Mukand Ltd, Darius Shroff of Crawford Bayley & Company and Ketan Dalal of RSM & Company.
The company has also set up an ESOP committee and an audit panel as part of corporate governance.
As part of a restructuring prior to the domestic listing, UTV is also merging with itself the subsidiary, United Studios Ltd.
In UTV, currently the promoters have 42.19 per cent, News Corp 14.46 per cent, Warburg Pincus 16.49 per cent amongst others. Post IPO the promoters' quota will go down to about 37 per cent, while News Corp's will go down to about 12 per cent.