Multi Screen Media to launch MAX 2 in India
Multi Screen Media is planning to launch a second channel dedicated to movies and event to complement its flagship, Sony MAX service.
The broadcaster will follow in the footsteps of ZEE Network’s second movies channel &pictures and Star TV’s Movies Ok channel. Sony MAX 2 is likely to launch post the Indian Premier League in June this year. Incidentally, the Multi Screen Media is also working on a second entertainment channel, similar to Sony Entertainment Television Asia.
Due to commercials regulation in India and caps on the amount of advertisement airtime per hour, channels in India are expand their inventories with the launch of secondary channels.
A source told TelevisionPost, ���The work on the channel is on and it will launch soon. It is logical to launch another Hindi movie channel as we have a large movie library.”
���It�۪s a very logical step for us. If you see, only MSM does not have a second Hindi movie channel compared to the other two leading broadcasters Star and ZEE. We would like to get into that game as we see a fairly large reach potential in the channel,� the MSM source explained.
It will be interesting to see how Multi Screen Media plan to differentiate MAX 2 from its main channel. At the moment, the pecking order sees Star Gold, ZEE Cinema and Sony MAX occupy the top three slots. Movies Ok and &pictures follow. However, with the top three constantly changing between the three main movie broadcasters, it remains to be seen how much of an impact (of any) MAX 2 will have in the market.
