"SCRABBLE" for Digital Screens

On Tuesday, 2nd of September 2008, a panel discussion was held in Mumbai, panelists present at this press conference were, Mr. Ranjit Thakur, CEO, Scrabble entertainment Pvt Ltd, Mr. Amitabh Vardhan, CEO, PVR Cinemas, Mr. Kanwal Preet Singh Brar, Sales Manager, India – Christie Digital Systems and Mr. Vishal Kapur, CEO, Fun cinemas.Ranjit Thakur, CEO, Scrabble Entertainment, said “Our 2 K Digital Platform will change the way movies are shown in India. This unique business model is a win – win for the entire industry. The exhibitors will have increased revenue and lower operational costs while the content providers will have a substantial savings on print cost and eventually benefit in a big way as piracy will be curtailed with our mass deployment. ”“ Hollywood Studios will be also be largely benefited as this will enable them to have Day and Date Releases in India at a much lower cost and Digital will help them show case 3 D content as well. ”“You will get a glimpse and recognize the potential of 3 D when Journey to the Center of the Earth is released digitally in 3D by E-City Ventures”Exhibitors for some of the movies are already using the technology. For instance, PVR Cinemas - Juhu, Inox - Nariman Point have tested this technology to showcase all the films released recently and got a tremendous response.Mr. Amitabh Vardhan , CEO , PVR Cinemas, said “ We will now be able to maximize our advertisement revenue, get better show placements & also be able to show case alternate content. Also PVR’s revenue from Hollywood Content is the highest in the industry and the fact that we will be getting more day and date releases from theHollywood studios & with the opportunity to play 3 D Movies, it will definitely add to our bottom line. PVR sees this as the future of exhibition & will completely support Scrabble in their effort to digitize India”PVR today has 19 screens running on 2 K Digital with no analog back up. It plans to install atleast 30 to 40 Digital Screens every year.
By IB correspondent Mumbai