UFO Moviez India was incorporated as ‘Valuable Media Private Limited’ under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 pursuant to a certificate of incorporation dated June 14, 2004 issued by the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra at Mumbai. The company is India’s largest digital cinema distribution network and in-cinema advertising platform (in terms of numbers of screens), as at October 31, 2014. Its digitisation and delivery model has been a key driver of extensive digitisation of Indian cinemas and has enabled wide-spread, same day release of movies across India. Prior to the advent of digital cinema exhibition, movies were exhibited using analogue celluloid prints, which involved a high upfront production cost and required distributors to physically deliver the prints to cinemas. As distributors were unable to predict the actual demand for a movie, they were often unable to produce an optimal number of prints, either producing too few prints, leading to potential loss of revenue, or too many prints, leading to excess expenses. This challenge, together with the logistical challenges of physically delivering heavy celluloid prints, limited the wide-spread release of movies across India. As there were only a limited number of physical reels available for each movie, only cinemas in metropolitan areas and large cities would generally receive movies during their first week of release. Cinemas outside of those areas would generally receive used physical reels a few weeks after their initial release. This delay, coupled with the lack of any inherent security measures in celluloid prints to prevent piracy, meant that customers in those locations would generally have had access to the movies via pirated media, leading to potential loss of revenue for distributors and exhibitors and a poor viewing experience for audiences due to the viewing of low-quality pirated media.

The company has added value to all stakeholders in the movie value chain, spanning movie producers, distributors, exhibitors and the cinema-going audience. It provides value to movie producers and distributors by reducing distribution costs, providing reach to a wide network of over 4,900 screens across India, providing a faster method of delivery of content and reducing piracy through encryption and other security measures. It provides value to movie exhibitors throughout India by providing access to first day release of movies on its digital platform. Audiences benefit from faster access to new movie releases and a consistently high quality viewing experience. The company has an overall 54% market share in India’s digital cinema exhibition industry in terms of screens that use digital cinema distribution networks.

Business area of the company

It operates India’s largest satellite-based, digital cinema distribution network (in terms of numbers of screens) using its UFO-M4 platform, as well as India’s largest D-Cinema network (in terms of numbers of screens). In fiscal year 2014, the company digitally delivered more than 1,500 movies in 22 languages to 4,703 screens with aggregate seating capacity of approximately 2.15 million viewers spread across India.

Major Events and Milestones

• 2004: Incorporation of the company.
• 2005: Entered into the first agreement for appointment of an exhibition franchisee in connection with the installation of E-Cinema digital cinema system and launch of digital cinema business of the company in India.
• 2006: Acquisition by Edridge Limited (a subsidiary of UFO Moviez Limited (formerly known as Zefaan Media Private Limited) of a 51% stake in UFO International Private Limited, the entity holding software and intellectual property related to UFO-M4 technology, from DG2L Technologies Pte. Ltd., Singapore.
• 2007: Private equity investment by 3i Digital Media (Mauritius) Limited in UFO Moviez Limited.
• 2008: Launch of its in-cinema advertising platform.
• 2008: Sanction of the scheme of amalgamation by the High Court of Delhi pursuant to which UFO Moviez Limited, its erstwhile holding company, merged with and into the company.
• 2008: Signing of agreement with Southern Digital Screenz India Private Limited (“SDS”) for installation of UFO-M4 digital cinema systems in southern India.
• 2010: Increase in stake by Edridge Limited, its Subsidiary, from 51% to 100% in UFO International Private Limited, the entity holding software and intellectual property related to UFO-M4 technology.
• 2010: First non-film application of UFO M4 technology in which the company acted as the technology service provider for enabling exhibition of live cricket matches in theatres across the country in 2D and 3D formats.
• 2011: Private equity investment by P5 Asia Holding Investments (Mauritius) Limited.
• 2011: Investment in SDS and DCI solution provider Scrabble Entertainment Limited (Scrabble).
• 2011: Launch of operations in U.A.E., Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Oman and Jordan through its Subsidiary, SEJLT.
• 2013: Incorporation of SVLLC and SVM, its Associates, to launch operations in North America (USA and Mexico).
• 2014: Digitally delivered 1,720 movies in 31 languages to 4,703 screens spread across India.
• 2014: Entered into an investment agreement for acquisition of VDSPL.
• 2015: Completed acquisition of an 80% interest in VDSPL.