With the OTT viewership increasing across the country, the digital platforms are offering huge prices for the digital rights of those featuring stars. Tollywood producers are minting huge money through the digital rights and they are recovering a major portion of the budget through the digital, satellite and Hindi rights. The OTT platforms too are offering huge amounts for early streaming. The producers are not bothered about the deadlines and are selling the rights for early deals. This is badly killing the footfalls of the films in theatres.
The producers of a recent biggie did not even inform the distributors about the digital streaming of the film in just the third week of its release. The film is having a decent run in theatres and the biggie was available on an OTT platform. The greediness of the producers is just killing the theatre system completely. Though some of them are strict on digital release eight weeks after the theatrical release, most of them are not bothered. Several top distributors met recently and discussed about a possible solution before meeting the producers.
The distributors are buying the theatrical rights for record prices and most of the successful films incurred losses. A section of audience decided to stay away from theatres and they are waiting to watch films on OTT platforms. It’s high time for the producers to realize the damage and correct themselves before the theatrical and distribution system gets vanished.
