The digital deals have turned out to be the major source of recovery for the producers. But the digital platforms have slashed down the deals and they are imposing new rules and restrictions which is leaving the producers in stress. Several industry bigwigs and analysts have suggested a eight-week OTT window for South films which is strictly implemented in North India for Hindi films. But this is far from reality for South films. A series of meetings were held between the Telugu producers to take a decision about the OTT rule. But with big investments made and most of them in stress, most of them were against the eight-week OTT rule.

A crucial meeting between all the South Indian film producers took place in Hyderabad yesterday and the major discussion was about OTT rule. With most of them opposing the eight-week OTT window, the decision has been kept aside. They have decided to go ahead and take an independent call without imposing any rule. This will do a big damage to the theatrical revenue and footfalls in the coming days. The exhibition industry is in a struggling phase because of the early digital streaming of films. The single screens are getting closed and the theatre count is coming down on a yearly basis.

The yesterday meeting made it clear that the producers are dependent completely on the OTT revenue as there is no steady recovery for any actor in theatres. The theatrical deals and the revenue are completely dependent on the buzz generated and the word of mouth. Hence, our producers have decided to rely on the OTT deals. Over the years, this decision will completely kill the footfalls.