All the elements of a good Bollywood formula film are there in the fight between Zee TV and the Sony-B4U combine. Betrayal, court scenes, villainy, stratagems and revenge. Starring Subhash Chandra, Laxmi Mittal, Kishore Lulla, Subhash Ghai and others
The action is set in London. The script goes something like this. Kishore Lulla who owns Eros Entertainment, the largest film distributor in the UK and Zee TV were good friends. And then, suddenly, Lulla stops selling films to Zee TV. He joins hands with Laxmi Mittal, the steel king and Gokul Binani to start their own channel — B4U. Zee, unaware of this, asks Lulla to sell some movie stock to them. Then Lulla deals the unkindest cut. B4U joins hands with Zee’s arch rival, Sony. Enter Farhath Khan, a show promoter.
B4U make their first presentation at his show in April. Zee blacklists him and his shows. Sony/B4U then team up with Subhash Ghai to sponsor the premier of Taal for the launch of their channel. At the press conference Laxmi Mittal says, “The difference between Zee and B4U/Sony is because of the investors (financial backing) we have.”
Zee now aims its guns at Subhash Ghai who gets caught in the cross-fire. Zee Top 10 has no songs of Taal. The marketing team also refuses to carry its advertisements and a furious Subhash Ghai takes it up with Subhash Chandra.
Zee decides to have its own extravaganza, an exhibition in Wembley arena called Zee Asia Live. Even as the crowds pour in, a mobile van with huge B4U/Sony banners circles the arena. Then 15 girls wearing Sony/B4U T-shirts enter the exhibition holding pictures of Akshay Kumar who is performing at the exhibition. Zee gets the security guards at the stadium to stop their rivals from distributing leaflets inside the stadium.
Then in September, Zee accuses Sony/B4U of stealing their data base when their CEO receives a promo tape of B4U. They get a court order restraining Sony/B4U from using their data base as Zee claims that Golden Rock, the company who supplied them the database is owned by Kishore Lulla. B4U contests this claim, pointing out that the data base is available through agents and freely advertised. The Asian media in London play up the story of the multi-millionaires.
“It’s war,” says Eastern Eye, a local paper. To firmly bond their new alliance, the new partners set up a company called BEN-SET (Bollywood Eros Network and Sony Entertainment Television). Zee TV drops charges against Sony but refuses to do so against B4U. Meanwhile, B4U has also decided to produce films and has teamed up with Bharat Shah to make 12 films a year. Bharat Shah has, according to a source, called Kishore Lulla and offered him support to tackle Zee. B4U is on digital mode. Now Zee too has shifted from analogue to digital. More in the sequel.
Steel the Show
Laxmi Mittal is a key player in the restructuring of the global steel industry and has been acquiring and turning around under-performing steel making assets for the past decade — making almost one acquisition a year. Laxmi Mittal, Gokul Binani and Kishore Lulla were on a family holiday together when they decided to launch the TV channel. B4U is Mittal’s private investment. Sony and B4U have entered into a strategic alliance in the UK to market the channel both singly and as a package. The idea is to draw from the strengths of the two channels and make it stronger as a brand. And now that the court injunction has been removed, it is business as usual for B4U. As B4U’s CEO, Ravi Gupta said in his address, “B4U starts with a strong library of films from Eros. This library of 1,000 films is now available to B4U.” The digital channel has interactive plans like websites and chat lines or meeting favourite stars at live events.
Bytes
B4U — Ravi Gupta — CEO
“Databases are available in the market at a price. Zee also advertises for it on their Website. We would be very careful if we had acquired database from unlawful sources. We were very confident that they would lift the injunction.”
“I presume Zee realised that they made too much of too little.”
“It’s a market fight and has to be fought in a market place and we are ready for it.”
“We believe the better product will win.”
“We are the market leader and it would take time for them to come anywhere near us. But we recognise the fact that they would be very near us with the campaign they are running.”
Taz Chaudhury, Corporate Communication Manager, Zee TV
“When Mr. Chandra acquired Zee TV from Amitabh Bachan it only had 48,000 subscribers at that time. In the last four years we have well over 15,00,000 subscribers to Zee TV.”
“B4U/Sony must have got the database from an ex-employee who used to work over here.”
“How can a company in Mumbai (Golden Rock which is owned by Kishore Lulla) get hold of a database in the UK?”
“Sony and B4U are in partnership and are available at 12.99 perhaps to destroy Zee TV. It’s a free trade.”
“We are in the middle of signing top contracts with Yash-Raj Films. All their films will be coming to us.”
“It’s a strategic decision not to show what Eros has.”
“I am not aware of Taal not being shown on Zee Top 10.”
“On banning Eros ads because of which B4U/Sony are campaigning heavily on Sunrise radio and in Stardust.”
“Why should Zee TV create a platform for someone who is trying to compete against us combining two channels and advertise with us.”
“We did not say no to them bluntly.”
“We just asked 500 to 1000 pounds for a spot (Normally 150 pounds).”
On the controversial Zee show at Wembley
“I personally made sure they didn’t come within the property at Wembley Conference or exhibition Hall. I managed to get them off.”
“Mr. Chandra is very good friends with Mr. Mittal and Mr. Lulla; they will sort it out.”
“Half the staff in B4U are Zee TV staff.”
“If Mr. Mittal is backing B4U and has Mr. Lulla’s…”
WITH INPUTS FROM
KEVIN REGO, LONDON