"We are expanding our role in the entertainment area. Theatrical distribution and film production are the new businesses we are looking at seriously," said Sony Entertainment Television COO Rajesh Pant. Sony's foray into theatrical distribution will start with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission Kashmir, starring Hrithik Roshan. The movie will premier in London on October 26 and in New York on October 27. It will also be shown on Sony's entertainment channel across the globe. "We are doing international theatrical distribution for the movie. Depending on the outcome of this, we will take the next step," said Mr Pant. Mission Kashmir will go to the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, West Asia and the Far East.

The movie will have sub title prints in different languages. Sony, Mr Pant said, plans to distribute a movie a month. Film production will also be a part of the company's extended business. Though Sony has a small team looking into the movie business, a new division will be created once the size of the operations grow. Sources said Ravina Kohli was offered to head the movie team, apart from heading the channel's programming. But she moved out to join as chief executive officer of Channel Nine. Sony plans to rake up big money from its Hindi movie business, though Mr Pant refused to divulge the targets the company has set for in the first year of operations.

Besides generating additional revenue, the company will have movie software exclusively for its entertainment channels. The company has already invested heavily on acquiring telecast rights of big movies for Sony TV and Set Max which is a mix of films, events and cricket. To integrate between programming and marketing, Sony has set up strategic business units. Each day will have a separate programming marketing unit (PMU) to look into the success of the shows.

Monday's shows, for instance, are handled by a PMU different from the other days. Weekend TV (Saturdays and Sundays), though, has a separate PMU team.

Though the day parts and shows like Movers & Shakers had different PMUs, the team has been disbanded and merged into the daily team of PMUs. The PMUs report to Prashant Sanwal, head of marketing, Sony Entertainment Television.

The concept of strategic business units will help Sony to integrate between marketing, programming and promos. Each PMU will be responsible for studying concepts, casting, storyline, ratings, advertising and also life of the show. It combines the varied skills of each team. "Strategic business units is a unique weapon we have," said Mr Pant.