A film was considered a hit or flop by it’s theatrical collections until the 90’s. However, it is not the same now. A film does not earn revenue from theatricals alone. It also earns from satellite rights, audio rights, in film branding, dubbing rights and home video rights. Satellite rights play an important role in safeguarding the producer. In some films, satellite rights help in getting almost 70 percent of the film’s budget. Recently released film, “Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu” satellite rights was sold for Rs 1.5 crores. The budget of the film including print and publicity was 2.4 crores. So that means the film recovered 62.5 percent of it’s budget through satellite rights alone!
Star Value

A film’s satellite rights is sold on star value. If the film stars TOP 4 (Yash, Sudeep, Darshan and Puneeth) actors, channels fight for the rights by paying a big amount to the producers. The reason is, these actors’ films get them good TRP irrespective of their performance in box office. For instance ‘Ambarisha’ , which was a flop film still manages to get good TRP’s whenever telecasted on channels. A channel normally pays Rs 5-7 crores for these actors’ films. Films of actors like Upendra. Shivarajkumar, Sharan, Ganesh and Vijay are also brought at good amount.

Box office performance

Another important factor taken into account by the channels while buying the satellite rights of a Kannada film is the box office performance of the film. Nowadays, the satellite rights a film starring lesser known actors is sold after seeing the performance of film at the box office. For instance “Kendasampige”s satellite rights was sold for Rs 50 lacs after the film was declared a hit at the box office. If the film was sold before release, it would have fetched lesser price as it starred newcomers.

Genre

Genre also plays an important role in buying of satellite rights. Films with ‘A’  certificate are not preferred by channels. Romantic films and family entertainers are preferred by channels over other genres. As television is a media, wherein a whole family sits and watches the film together, a film without adult content is not preferred by channels.

Packaged deal

Sometimes satellite rights includes packaged deal. It may include participation of film stars in the programmes of channels or film’s music launch programme on the channel. A packaged deal helps the channel in earning more revenues as they can get more advertisers if they telecast more programmes related to the film.

Gap of film’s release and telecast

Until 2012, a film would have a satellite premier only after a year of release. Later the time gap decreased to 6 months. Nowadays, we can never say when the film will be on small screen. “Jigarthanda” was screened on small screen within 30 days of it’s release, even though it was still running in theatres. The reason for this is that film’s collection had dipped after the initial days. When the producer of the film Sudeep was offered a good price (Rs 1 crore) by Colors Kannada channel, he agreed to telecast his film. It was win-win situation for both. Nowadays, a big star’s film is telecasted within 150 days of it’s theatrical release. Speaking about this, Shankar, an employee working for a popular Kannada channel says, ” Most of the people would have already watched the film before it is telecasted on TV. They would have watched the film in theatres or a pirated version on mobile or cable channel. So it does not make sense for channels to telecast the film after a year or later. After a film ends it’s theatrical run, I feel the film should be telecasted on small screen.”

Films made exclusively for satellite rights

There was a time when films were made exclusively for satellite rights. A film would be made on a small budget with least importance given to story or technical aspects. Later the rights would be sold at an amount which would bring in profits for the producer. This created a bad image for Sandalwood as low quality films were being produced. However, the channels stopped buying rights of the film before release. This has helped the industry in a big way.

Films not purchased

Everything is not rosy. Nowadays, most of the films are not purchased. With almost 150 films released every year, it is becoming next to impossible to purchase rights of all films. Only around 20 percent of the films manage to sell their rights. The remaining films are kept in cans. So it is important for producers not to blindly invest in projects expecting good returns from satellite rights.

Satellite rights plays an important role in helping the producer in safeguarding himself. A star’s value is known by the price his film fetches on small screen. Certain actors do not take any remuneration upfront and take the satellite rights fee as their remuneration. This helps the producer in keeping the budget under control. However, the market condition is not so good nowadays. So it is important for a film maker to make a good product. If the film is good, it will surely be purchased for a good price and will help to bring profits.