Film’s satellite rights can be sold after one year

A joint committee comprising five members each from the All India Film Producers Council (AIFPC) and CCCA will be set up immediately to ensure implementation of the agreement and settle any dispute between producers and distributors.

The agreement was signed in Mumbai by CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain and vice-president Vijay Rathi and other CCCA committee members. Among the producers who signed it were AIFPC president Pahlaj Nihalani, Film Producers Guild president Surinder Kapoor, Indian Motion Picture Producers Association president Shakti Samanta, Western India Film Producers Association vice-president Sangram Shirke, Yash Johar, Rakesh Roshan, Ganesh Jain, Ramesh Taurani, Amit Khanna, Gordhan Tanwani and Vikas Mohan, among others.

If minimum guarantee (MG) amount exceeds Rs 25 lakh, no producer will be allowed to sell video or cable rights for six months from the date of theatrical release. If any producer flouts the agreement, he/she will have to part with 50 per cent of the income from the satellite or any other rights sold, which will be divided among distributors circuitwise all over India.

In case of any agreement other than the MG Royalty, or if the producer decides to release a film himself, he shall be free to dispose of all the rights.

Pahlaj Nihalani hailed the unity among distributors as historic and felt there will exist a cordial relationship between producers and distributors thanks to the CCCA agreeing to refurbish all other earlier arrangements and maintain unity among producers and distributors.

Asked if distributors of other circuits, who are part of the Film Distributors Council, would also agree to such an arrangement, Pahlaj Nihalani said unity between the production, distribution and exhibition sectors was of paramount need because of dwindling returns caused by the rampant video piracy through cable networks and Digital Video Discs (DVD) in the overseas market.

CCCA chief Santosh Singh Jain, the man behind the unity move said distributors of his association felt the time has come to sit together with producers to solve the irritating factors that had cropped up due to producers’ moves to sell satellite rights before five years. He said he was happy an amicable settlement had been reached.