Sky is the first pay-TV operator to sign an agreement with Net Brasil for the purchase of a broadcast program to offer subscribers as pay-per-view (PPV). The DTH operator plans to have A Muralha (?The Wall?), a miniseries about early colonial Brazil adapted from a novel by Dinah Silveira de Queiroz, available from September 9. It will be aired in nine 90-minute episodes on two staggered PPV channels. All episodes will be reprised over the weekend. Sky aims to use ?The Wall? as a marketing tool to promote programs of a similar kind that Net Brasil is negotiating with TV Globo and other content providers. For starters, Sky will offer the miniseries free of charge to around 450,000 selected subscribers. The rest will pay 18 Brazilian Reals (now about 6 US Dollars) if they want to watch.
Trend
PPV offerings comprising broadcast hits are evidently set to become a trend, as illustrated previously by ?Big Brother? (Sky) and ?Casa dos Artistas? (DirecTV). It took a lot of negotiating to reach this point with ?The Wall?, however, starting with the need for TV Globo to work out an accord on copyright with artists and writers. Once the company won the DVD rights to the series, the path to pay TV was made smoother but that won?t necessarily be the case with the rest of Globo?s vast archive of soaps, miniseries and documentaries.
Cross-border
The agreement with Sky is non-exclusive and Net Brasil is negotiating the same package with other franchisees. On several occasions Net Serviços has declared its intention of doing the same. Net Brasil is also engaged in talks with Sky Mexico on an exchange of content, with Mexican events being offered for PPV exhibition in Brazil and vice-versa.
