There was a time when low-budget film producers used to make films only to sell satellite rights. While these movies never get screened in theaters, they make decent money by selling rights to TV channels. The goal is to make a film with a shoe string budget and sell it to TV channels. However, now that Maa and Gemini have decided to stop buying small budget films altogether, several filmmakers who rely on satellite rights for making money are in trouble. According to the sources, channels like Zee and ETv are now approaching these producers but the top channels like Maa and Gemini, who used to pay a fancy price, are not showing interest in acquiring their rights anymore. They claim that these days, users like to watch hit films only, even after several repeats, which brings good revenue for the channels.
Every year about 300 low-budget films are made including the dubbed ones. Considering the release issues and not being able to make money on satellite rights, we will have to see if they have any impact going forward. Also, the money on audio rights they make is next to nothing and only useful for promotional purposes.
