CQ- B4U and Relativity Media inks JV for TV and films

General Entertainment Channel B4U, owned by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, on 17th May has set up a $100 million joint venture with Relativity Media LLC, the US film  and television production company.

The JV, marking the entry of Relativity Media into the Indian market, will launch a pay television channel in India focused on Hollywood content in both English and Hindi. It will also create a digital streaming technology platform called RelaTV to deliver compelling short- and long-format content to Indian consumers. 

Broadly, the JV will create and distribute local film, TV and digital productions in the growing Indian market. Relativity films will also be distributed and marketed in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, beginning with ‘The Best of Me’ in October. 

B4U and Relativity aim to leverage their combined expertise, relationships and resources to create and distribute engaging long- and short-format entertainment and sports content in India. They will build a creative film studio and a unique technology platform. 

The two companies, however, did not disclose the shareholding structure of the JV. B4U Network, which runs two television channels B4U Movies and B4U Music, has Mittal, Kishore Lulla and Gokul Binani as shareholders. 

The JV aims to capitalise on the significant growth potential of the Indian film and television markets, which are expected to reach revenues of Rs 193.3 billion ($3.5 billion) and Rs 848 billion ($15.3 billion) respectively by 2017.

Source:
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4884-cq-b4u-and-relativity-media-inks-jv-for-tv-and-films.html http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4884-cq-b4u-and-relativity-media-inks-jv-for-tv-and-films.html