Telugu satellite business is tough to understand. Channels, mediators and different kind of people deliberately spread different rates. Recommendations and internal issues create ambiguity regarding satellite business.
Usually, channels don’t directly buy rights of a film. They close deals with help of mediators. In this format, producers will not get full pay as mediator will take a high percentage from the deal amount and sometimes they lie to producers about the actual deal amount.
On the flip side, mediators do agreements with producers before film’s release and even sign agreements with them. It is quite a common scenario that they later sell the rights to channels and pocket huge profits.
It is indeed tough to close satellite deals of late without mediation of mediators — whether it is of a star hero or of a small hero film.
There have been numerous speculations about the satellite business of latest sensation Mahanti.
Some say the film’s satellite rights were sold for Rs 11 Cr, others say the deal was closed for Rs 15 Cr, wherein few others say the deal fetched Rs 18 Cr for producers.
While few reports claim a TV channel has bought Mahanati rights, one section of media spread false news that only an agreement with mediator is done.
However, producers of Mahanati haven’t yet made any official announcement regarding the satellite deal.
In fact, producers tried to sell satellite rights three days prior to the film’s release. Nonetheless, they stopped talks since it is highly impossible to close the deal within 3 days and moreover they were busy promoting the film back then.
Later, they tried to sell digital and satellite rights individually as well as a bulk deal for all languages. They held talks with Amazon for digital rights, various regional channels for satellite rights, etc.
Certainly, Mahanati satellite business is not yet done and is still open. Actually, they wish to sell rights for all languages as a single deal as that would mean getting a huge amount.
Producers of Mahanati are confident of the deal being closed in one to 2 days time. Since the film is doing exceptionally well in Telugu states and Tamil Nadu, it will surely get a staggering price for satellite rights. But, getting Rs 15 to Rs 18 Cr for the deal seems a little unlikely.
