Sun Direct to offer Telugu movies on demand

Chennai, Jan 8 (IANS) India's second largest direct-to-home (DTH) player Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd will launch the country's first regional language video on demand service Saturday, with Telugu movies.

Sun Direct's chief operating office Tony D'Silva said: "With the lifespan of films in theatres reducing to an average of two to three weeks and piracy eating away the revenues, DTH platform on television will emerge as an attractive alternative for production houses."

New movies on DTH can be effectively leveraged between the theatre release and CD/DVD launch, making it a win-win scenario for all the parties including the subscribers and an additional revenue stream for the DTH platform, he said, according to a statement issued here Friday.

Sun Direct which has more than 2,000 Telugu movies in its library will launch the service with Chiranjeevi starrer "Shankar Dada Zindabad".

According to the company, the movies are priced at Rs.25 with flexible show timing beginning at 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.