Hll To Buy Satellite Rights Of Om Namah Shivay Serial

Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has entered into an in-principle agreement of Dheeraj Kumar's Creative eye for buying out Indian satellite rights of the mega-television serial "Om Namah Shivay" in Hindi.

This is for the first time in India that a sponsor has bought the advertising rights for the re-run of a television serial. "Om Namay Shivay" is already running successfully on Doordarshan on prime time on Sunday in the 10 am slot.

The serial will tentatively end this year on Doordarshan and will be available for re-telecast on other channels after that.

HLL officials said: "We are looking at the possibility of retelecasting mega mythological serials ... as a business opportunity. It will be entirely used to increase HLL's brand awareness."

 

The official added that it was still undecided on which satellite channel "Om Namay Shivay" could be retelecast. The company was also undecided on whether to sell time-slots to other advertisers when the serial comes up for the re-telecast.

ONS was produced in 1997 by creative Eye and is based on the life of popular Indian god -- Lord Shiva. ONS which has completed more than 150 episodes till date is amongst the most successful mythological serials on DD and was among the top ten ratings for the channel.

The deal will boost the profits for Creative Eye since it has already written off the production costs for the serial at the time of telecast and the re-run amount will directly flow in to its bottomline.

The IPO of Creative Eye has opened for book building from November 3 and is priced at a floor price of Rs 50 for a five rupee paid up share.