Date:12/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/12/stories/2005081202330800.htm

Back Hollywood movie CDs at Rs 30?

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Aug. 11

GOOD news to all those who love watching Hollywood movies. They can buy original and good quality compact disks (CD) of Hollywood movies at just Rs 30 a CD. And, within no time they can also dream of building up their own CD library with as many as 500 movies!

All this within a year if the Hyderabad-based Harsha Media has its way. The Company Chairman, Mr C. Narasimha Rao, told presspersons on Wednesday that his company has acquired rights of more than 500 Hollywood movies to manufacture and sell in India in CD format.

"We will soon enter the domestic CD market. Original Hollywood movie CDs will be very affordable," said Mr Rao.

The company has also tied-up with the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) to produce devotional audio and video CDs. Harsha Media has set up a modern pre-recorded CD manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, the first in Andhra Pradesh with a capacity of 36,000 CDs a day.

Stating that this facility is the third in the South after Kochi and Chennai, Mr Rao said the film industry in the South was currently getting most of its CD work done in the North as the capacities were not available down here. The totally integrated and automated plant of Harsha Media uses robots and sensors at every stage of CD production. In pre-recorded CDs, Mr Rao said the audio and video content would be transferred onto CDs in the digital form. Hence, the content in the CDs produced at Harsha Media will remain permanent unlike other recorded CDs, he said.

Harsha Media expects major business opportunities from the software industry, corporates and educational institutions. To cater to the needs of these users, the company has established a designing facility in the city comprising high-end computers and experienced graphic designers to provide complete solutions to all kinds of CD publishers. "We have developed educational CDs for KG children to University students on almost all the subjects. We expect a major business from this segment in the coming days. We are currently in talks with the Andhra Pradesh Government to pursue the electronic learning programme with the help of low-cost educational CDs," he said.

Similar arrangements are being planned with other State Governments as supply of interactive educational CDs to all the schools and colleges is going to increase substantially in future.

"We are ready to supply the requisite CDs at special rate to the Governments," said Mr Narasimha Rao.