A view to the future

E-Vision's pay-per-view service will boost home entertainment, writes Kavitha S. Daniel

Imagine, watching Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi thriller Minority Report in the comfort of your own home, just weeks after it's released in theatres?

Well, that is no longer going to be a figment of your imagination, thanks to E-Vision (Emirates Cable TV and Multimedia), the only digital cable television service provider in the UAE. It is all set to redefine home entertainment with the launch of its pay-per-view service.

E-Vision, which has been steadily covering greater ground across the Emirates, is all set to launch an easy-to-access home cinema service called "eView" in September.

In an exclusive interview, Abdulrahman Almulla, E-Vision's programming manager and acting CEO, spoke to Gulf News about the cable service's exciting plans.

Almulla, who has worked in the technical and programming sections of the organisation, is responsible for sourcing and negotiating the content for all of E-Vision's 105 channels.

Instrumental in introducing new interactive services such as e-games, this articulate UAE national puts it succinctly when asked about his job description: "I'm responsible for acquiring and designing the product in short."

Kavitha S. Daniel: Did E-Vision decide to launch eView after the success of the pay channel during the recent football World Cup?
Abdulrahman Almulla: We had planned eView when E-Vision was first conceptualised. We were just waiting for our customer base to broaden. The idea was very much with us even four years ago. Today, we've managed to bring our service to nearly 150,000 of the 650,000 homes in the UAE.

Having achieved a market penetration equivalent to international standards and having established a broad customer base, we are now ready to introduce this popular international concept of pay television.

When will eView be launched ?
We have been testing it in Al Ain and we will start the service for E-Vision subscribers around September 18. Currently, we are in the process of ironing out a few payment methods. We are also running the eView promos on channel 202 right now.

What will be the content of eView?
eView will feature 18 channels showing new Hollywood, Arabic and Asian (mostly Hindi) movies at different times.

Four channels each will be dedicated to one movie, the crucial point being that the same film will be repeated after a 30-minute interval.

So at any given time you don't have to wait for more than half-an-hour to catch up with a movie at different timings. They will be recent films, not the ones running in the cinema near you, but we will feature them before they reach pay channels and the video shops.

In a nutshell, we will screen the films before the pay television channels do and just after the cinema theatres have screened them.

Usually, after being shown on pay television, the films are released on video and DVD, and then become free-to-air.

Will other programmes be telecast in addition to the movies?
Yes, we will carry international events such as boxing matches, music concerts and hi-profile matches. No, not cricket… Till now there's been no precedent of showing cricket on a pay-per-view service. Even in football, we allowed customers to view the entire World Cup.

Home cinema is not new, Showtime and Orbit already offer this service. What's unique about eView?
What will make our home cinema service different is that it will be easily accessible to all subscribers. That will be our advantage, it will not involve a minimum requirement such as having to be a premium subscriber or a basic plus to get eView.

Frankly, it will just complement the existing network and not affect the existing cabling or our new wireless network. It will just involve a very simple procedure of going through the menu, seeing what's on offer, feeding a code or pin number and then, voila, enjoying the movie.

How will eView actually operate?
Once eView starts, we shall inform our subscribers through mail, newspapers and electronic programme guide about the new releases each week. There will also be a synopsis available alongside the cost of each film.

What's important to note for the E-Vision subscriber is that no extra equipment will have to be installed. The existing set box will provide our latest service, the smart card capable of detecting and registering the movie you watch.

Once the customer selects a movie from the menu, the amount will be deducted from the customer's credit card or from the amount deposited by the customer at the beginning of the month.

However, we have not yet finalised the mode of payment for customers. It will approximately be Dh10 to Dh15 for Arabic and English movies and slightly lesser for Hindi – around Dh8 possibly.

What's been E-Vision's investment in this venture?
eView is a value-added service for our loyal customers. We want to pass on the benefit of being the most technologically-advanced cable television provider to our customers.

And we want to stand by our principle of being the best in home entertainment. We've not made new investments into eView. There's a team of five persons dedicated to this new service along with our existing infrastructure and staff. Of course, we have been spending money to acquire the movies.

What's the movie line-up at eView in the coming months?
For customers who avail of this service we shall offer a free first film – Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. This is to let customers use the service and learn how to operate it. Crocodile Dundee will be shown free to all the new eView subscribers.

It will be like a bonus to all our loyal customers and to just walk them through the process of ordering a movie.

In the near future, we have planned Kiss of the Dragon, which will be an exclusive for us, Bandits, Ali and Rat Race. In Arabic, we shall telecast Mona Zaki in Africano, El Selim Wah Ataban and in Hindi, there's Humraaz, Aankhen, Hum Kissie Kum Nahin and Legend of Bhagat Singh to name a few.

Will it threaten the existence of the video shops and cinema theatres?
We like to think they address different markets and we'll not compete with them at all. After all, going to the movie is a social outing, which we can never stand in for.

There are some people who prefer to stay at home, but they might still opt to pick a movie from the video library since they offer such a large catalogue of films.

The social habits of people in this region are changing indeed. There are more people watching movies today if you consider the number of theatres, video businesses and the satellite channels.

At E-Vision, we are offering customers more choices and asking the customer to choose from the different options. After all, video shops have not affected cinema theatres.

What we offer is more convenience to the customer, making it easier for him to watch a movie by offering the facility throughout the day. Basically, home cinema caters to an impulsive decision the customer makes.