The Big Deal: Salman Khan - Star Network tie up

Given the impressive success ratio of Salman Khan starrers over the past few years, Star Network struck a deal with the actor for obtaining satellite rights of all his upcoming films in the next five years.

"Apart from making good money at the box-office, his films also receive overwhelming TRPs. Keeping in mind his successful track record, we went ahead and struck a deal with him," says Hemal Jhaveri, executive vice-president and general manager, Star Gold and Movies OK.

As per the contract, Star Gold (Star Network) gets the exclusive satellite rights to broadcast all films featuring Salman Khan that releases between January 2013 to December 2017 - which may include Kick, produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, Sohail Khan's Radhe, No Entry Mein Entry a sequel to No Entry produced by Boney Kapoor and also Sooraj Barjatya's family drama.

First of its kind

While earlier such deals about satellite rights were between the channels and the producer/studios (of the films), this is the first time that a channel locked a deal with an actor.

Talking about this one of a kind deal, film-maker Ramesh Sippy opines, "Today all top actors have their production houses. They also have shares and stocks in the media and TV channels. So such deals are not surprising. Big stars will always have a hold over the market."

Who gets the money?

Interestingly, since it's a contract between a channel and an actor, Star Network has announced that it will pay Rs. 500 crore to the actor. It can be thus assumed, that each Salman Khan film will approximately be priced at Rs. 50 crore and that the actor will do two films on an average, per year.

So, with channels now approaching the stars directly, should the producers worry about their business in terms of the satellite rights? When Screen contacted Subhash Ghai, who has announced a film with Khan, this is what he had to say, "It is an open business, such business models keep changing. With money, comes power and people with power get a lion's share of profits. Let it be put to practical use, then we shall talk about it. Everybody will get their share of profit. Mera hissa divide hoke mujhe mil jayega."

... contd.

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