Movie production house Eros International is going to be releasing it’s latest film Chintuji both in the theatres and via DTH. This is the first Hindi film to be released this way. The DTH subscriber base in the country is growing rapidly and the value added services offered by them are making them more attractive than the traditional cable operators.

It seems like the movie industry is using the latest distribution technology to fight the menace of piracy which is rampant in the country and has cost the industry millions in losses. By releasing the movie on the TV platform simultaneously it reduces the incentive amongst movie viewers to hire or buy the latest movies on pirated discs. The entire family can watch the movie from the comfort of their home by ordering it in advance on DTH for around Rs 50-75 per view. Compared to anywhere between Rs 400- 1000 for an entire family movie outing at our multiplexes, this is definitely a cheaper alternative though still not comparable to pirated cd’s and dvd’s which can be bought for as low as Rs 20. However’s Moser Baer has also launched it’s low priced dvd’s for Rs  45 where you could get three movies on a single dvd which again is an effort to stamp out piracy.

One of the key economic lessons for IB economics students is that if you want to discourage a certain type of behaviour- either make it too expensive to indulge that behaviour (e.g. Taxes) or make create a cheaper (and better) alternative which people can access easily.