UTV Movies to launch this year on Sky Digital?

Bollywood film channel, UTV Movies is planning to launch this year on Sky Digital, according to sources close to BizAsia.co.uk.

UTV Movies is a part of UTV Motion Pictures – one of the largest Hindi movie studios in India. The company boasts some of the biggest movie titles around including ‘Delhi Belly’, ‘Dhobi Ghaat’, ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘Tees Maar Khan’, ‘I Hate Luv Stories’, amongst many others.

UTV Movies launched in India in February 2008 and has been eyeing the UK market for several months. It also plans to bring its showbiz channel, UTV Stars, which launched in India last month.

UTV Movies is said to be in advanced talks with several parties for an EPG slot on Sky Digital. If successful, the channel could launch before the end of the year.

UTV Movies will be joining the likes of B4U Movies, ZEE Cinema, MAX and Star Gold when it arrives in the UK. All of these already broadcast UTV film titles.

One question remains, with UTV selling its movies to rival channels on a non-exclusive basis, how does UTV Movies plan to differentiate itself from the plethora of channels in the UK? It certainly will be interesting to see how UTV will sell rights to other broadcasters henceforth.