Monday night’s cable TV blackout proved to be a boon for video library owners across Mumbai.
MUMBAI: Monday night’s cable TV blackout proved to be a boon for video library owners across Mumbai.
Some of them witnessed a 60 per cent jump in movie rentals and a 20 per cent hike in CD sales. With cable operators deciding to air all channels except movie channels from Tuesday night, video shop owners hope their “good times” might last a bit longer.
“We have seen a 60 per cent hike in movie rentals since the blackout,” said Tanmay Gala, proprietor of Readsure Video Library, which has outlets across Juhu, Andheri and Santacruz.
“Most of the calls started coming in by evening, as people returned home from work,” he says. The experience has been similar at Shemaroo Video Library and Shemaroo Video Store which noted a sharp rise in the demand for new movie rentals and sales. “Movie CD sales have also risen by 20 per cent since Monday,” said a spokesperson for Shemaroo.
Meanwhile, movie theatres raked in the moolah with their late evening and night shows, as families came in to catch their daily dose of entertainment.
“You can’t deny the pull of television. We have noted a rise in footfalls at our theatres. But more interestingly, instead of the usual two-ticket sales, we have registered four-ticket or eight-ticket sales. This means that most people were coming in with their families,” said Saurav Verma, VP, Marketing, PVR cinemas. Besides, many senior citizens - a rare sight in cinema halls these days - came to the theatres with their families, as cable operators pulled the plug on their staple diet of saas-bahu shows.
“We recorded a 20 per cent hike in ticket sales at our theatres, especially those in Versova and Kandivali (East),” said Devang Sampat, GM marketing and sales, Cinemax Cinemas. After TV killed the video star, is this the revenge of the discs?
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