Days ago, the TV premiere of Upendra’s UI was also announced on the same channel, but there’s no news of its OTT streaming. Will UI and Max head to another platform?
Last Updated: 01.50 PM, Feb 04, 2025
One of the most anticipated Kannada films on OTT is Kiccha Sudeep’s Max, which, for the longest time, was rumoured to come on a popular platform by the end of January. However, instead of an OTT release announcement, what happened is that the TV premiere got a promo, albeit with no date. This was only days after Upendra’s UI also got a similar promo. Why is it that both these films are heading to satellite first? That’s a question that’s elicited no response so far from the makers or the platform, even though, fans have been asking every now and then.
The satellite rights of both UI and Max rest with Zee Network, which has released TV premiere promos for both. Given that the practice has been for films to drop on OTT first and then head to TV, the fact that there’s no news about the streaming availability of Max and UI has netizens wondering if the digital rights are yet to be sold. Or is this the beginning of a new format with TV first and then OTT, given that streaming release is almost always accompanied with HD prints being available for illegal download?
According to sources, Zee Network has, for a while, only been procuring satellite rights, with film teams free to shop the digital rights elsewhere. Shivarajkumar’s Bhairathi Ranagal, was expected to be on Zee5 and Zee Kannada, much like his earlier home production Vedhaa, but the streaming rights went to Amazon Prime Video, eventually. In fact, Prime Video has been the only platform available to Kannada filmmakers, either on pay-per-view or transactional video on demand (TVOD - rental) format.
Since Kaatera, in February 2024, Zee5 has not had any OTT acquisitions, while Sun Network picked up only a handful of films – Bad Manners, Upadhyaksha, Fighter, Matinee and Krishnam Pranaya Sakhi in 2024. While a major chunk of films released in 2024 are not on any OTT platform yet, those that managed a digital rights deal went to Prime Video.