MUMBAI: English movie channels are once again gunning for the 11 pm slot during the Indian Premier league (IPL), targeting men and youth with action and horror titles as they expect a spillover from IPL audiences to the genre.

The lineup this year will see bigger titles and higher marketing spends across the English movie channels at the late hour band, as viewership for the 9 pm slot gets impacted with the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. The window gets open at 11 pm when the IPL matches end.

Pix, the channel which made remarkable progress last year after it had access to the library of parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment, is upping the ante this year.

Says Pix business head Sunder Aaron, "We are doubling our marketing budget for Pix Premier League. The good news for us is that ratings during 11 pm have not fallen. The titles we are showing this year are bigger."

Pix will air movies like ?Salt?, ?Hannibal? and ?Resident Evil?. The channel from the Multi Screen Media (MSM) stable is also doing cross-promotional schemes with Max.

"Since IPL matches are going to be on our sister channel Max, we can do a lot more in terms of marketing compared to competition. We are giving our viewers the chance to win DLF IPL match tickets daily. Viewers watching our film every night can answer a question asked during it and stand a chance to win tickets to the next IPL match," says Aaron.

Star Movies will have ?Superstar League Adventures? that will showcase blockbusters every night at 11 pm after an IPL match. The initiative will telecast films of stars like Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Nicholas Cage and Harrison Ford.

The broadcaster has also created a contest on its Facebook fan page. People have to answer two questions every day ? one based on the movie and another on cricket. Winners will be given goodies.

Movies Now, however, is staying away from a theme centring around cricket. It will air horror and suspense films like ?The Exorcist? to build a consumer connect.

Says Times Television Network CEO English channels Ajay Trigunayat, "We have come out with the ?Atmos-Fear? theme. Our aim is to build a consumer connect."

HBO will launch the fourth season of ?Hollywood Premiere League (HPL)on 16 April, showing films under this brand from 11:15 pm onwards every night. Building a momentum, the two-month long festival will offer blockbusters soon after the IPL matches get over.

HPL will showcase films like ?Clash Of The Titans?, ?Speedy Singhs?, ?No Strings Attached? and ?Jonah Hex?. Dove has come in as the title sponsor, Make my Trip as the presenting sponsor and Coke and Colgate as associate sponsors.

HPL will be promoted across various English TV channels. Outdoor campaigns and radio promotions will be carried out in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. HBO will also use multi-faceted social media and digital medium to promote the property.

The initiative will also have interactivity, both on-air and online. On-air, HBO has introduced the six-week long watch-and-win HPL Master Blaster Contest, where the participants can win the latest iPad. The contest is being promoted on air and is integrated with the broadcaster?s social media community.

HPL was announced in the social media domain beginning of the month, highlighting the on-air promotions ahead of its fourth edition roll-out. Facebook users will be able to create their own HPL Dream-Team through an user integrated application.

Along the with Dream-Team application, fans can create their own cheerleaders to support the Dream ?Team. Additionally, the user has options to, ?brush up your cricket lingos? and ?tweet the name of your favourite movie?.

The on-air properties include ?HPL- Matches Of The Week? - a ready menu of the matches of the week for viewers and ?HPL Memories?- capturing the most memorable moments from HPL movies.

MUMBAI: India shines bright in Sony‘s fiscal first-quarter performance that was darkened by a mounting loss of $199 million, shaken by the Japan earthquake and a decline in the consumer electronics major‘s PS3 sales.

Riding on the back of higher advertising revenues from its television business in India, the Sony Pictures Entertainment segment put up a better show.

"The current quarter benefited from significantly higher ad revenues from SPE?s television network in India and revenues recognised from the consolidation of the Game Show Network, which was accounted for under the equity method in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year," Sony said in its earnings statement.

The India story was written by the Indian Premier League (IPL), the hottest cricketing property that has attracted younger audiences to the sport‘s shorter 20-over format.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Multi Screen Media president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta said that the network managed to grow ad revenue by 30 per cent in the first quarter. "We had a strong performance from the IPL. The other channels have also fared well. We have managed to grow our yield. The start has been terrific."

SPE?s operating income increased to $53 million, triggered by growth in India and the recognition of a $27 million gain on the sale of SPE?s equity interest in a television production company based in the UK. This increase was partially offset by higher marketing expenses incurred for upcoming theatrical releases due to the greater number of major theatrical releases in July of the current fiscal year as compared to the previous fiscal year.

In the motion pictures? segment, sales increased by 9.3 per cent year-on-year to $1.7 billion. The current quarter benefited from an increase in motion picture revenues primarily due to higher home entertainment revenues from the previous fiscal year?s film slate, including the home entertainment releases of The Green Hornet, Battle: Los Angeles and Just Go With It. Partially offsetting this increase was a decrease in theatrical revenues as the first quarter of the previous fiscal year benefited from the strong theatrical release of The Karate Kid.

Overall sales for Sony were $18.4 billion, a 10 per cent dip compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal primarily due to decreases in sales in the Consumer Products and Services (CPS) and Professional Devices and Solutions (PDS) segments, which were mainly affected by the negative impact of the earthquake as well as the deterioration of the electronics business environment, and unfavorable exchange rates. PS3 sales fell to 1.8 million, from 2.4 million the same time last year.

Operating income decreased to $340 million. This was mainly due to lower operating income in the CPS and PDS segments, primarily resulting from a decrease in gross profit from lower sales and deterioration in the cost of sales ratio.