Gone are the days when we used to die to watch one movie per week on Sundays. Today is the time when at least 12-15 movies, considering Hindi and English both, are going on simultaneously on different channels. As if these were not enough, Softline creations is launching their new 24 hr. movie channel in the market. Softline Creations is optimistic that Indians’ love for movies will work in favour of its new 24-hour Hindi movie channel, Cinema TV. The channel will go on air from June 1, 2012.

Cinema TV is entering the highly competitive Hindi movie genre, which has well-established players such as Star Gold, Zee Cinema, Max, UTV Action and the recently launched Movies OK, among others.

Coinciding with the 100th year of the Indian Cinema, the channel promises to deliver cinematic feast of Bollywood’s Biggest Superstars, featuring in the latest blockbusters to evergreen old time hits. Hitesh Sabharwal, who has joined the company as the CEO, would head the channel. An  industry veteran, his experience in the broadcast domain spans over 17 years during which he worked with some of the leading names like Zee TV, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Times Group and Astro Group among others.

The channel’s USP is summed up by the brand tagline ‘Har cheez ka sahi waqt hota hai’ (There’s a right time for everything). Sabharwal explained, “The tagline relates to the fact that on Cinema TV, every movie has an appropriate time to be watched. We will categorise the movie as per timings for our different audiences.”

For promotions, the channel has roped in comedian Raju Srivastav as brand ambassador. Conventional medium such as print, television, cinema and outdoor is being used by Softline Creations to spread awareness about Cinema TV.

Meanwhile, when asked whether there was space for another Hindi movie channel, Amin Lakhani, Principal Partner, Mindshare replied, “There are more than 800 channels; it all depends on people and the TV channel. If you have good content and distribution in place, then it will work.”

Sabharwal also commented on the distribution saying, “The core strategy of the channel is to strengthen content and distribution. We understand the consumption patterns of our audience and plan to make our channel content accessible to all markets. Being a Free-to-air product, local cable operators will be able to tune into it and will assure broader reach. To extend the reach to non C&S markets, the channel will explore DD Direct plus Platform. We will also undertake a brand campaign in conventional mediums like Print, TV, Cinema & outdoors to promote our channel."

So you can see where the technology has reached. Earlier one movie per week and now atleast 50-60 films per day. What a progress sir ji?