B4U, an acronym for Bollywood For You, movies is the movie channel of India from the Bollywood 4 U group of India. B4U is the world`s first 24-hour South Asian Premium Digital Bollywood Movie Channel. This Bollywood movie channel was launched in August 1999 in the United Kingdom and within six months it had a global launch. B4U is currently available in the Middle East, US and Canada as the world`s first pay per view Bollywood channel. This value-based service from B4U is now available in Europe, US and South Africa too.

Hindi movie channels are expanding their global reach. And as for theatrical distribution, several companies are getting into overseas distribution as a part of their synergy drive. The USP of B4U lies in its affiliation with Eros international, which is the largest distributor of Bollywood films worldwide. And this affiliation helps B4U screen movies within six months of their release. B4U offers five full-length films per day, and it is the only channel to air Indian movies in the United States less than six months after their theatrical release in India. This is one movie channel, which has the attitude of a music channel.

B4U Movies is the ``Gateway to Bollywood``. B4U guarantees five films every day, a satellite premiere every Saturday night and comes with a blockbuster promise every Sunday night. This is topped with exclusive star interviews, behind-the-scenes, making of films, music based programs, news and interactive programs. It is the first Television channel in the world to come up with the concept of Movie on Demand whereby a movie is shown as per viewer`s choice voted through the website of this channel. There`s a lot more to B4U Movies than just films. With its Bollywood-based programming, this channel provides a 360-degree view of Bollywood to quench the thirst with the complete Bollywood experience of the filmi buff.

The channel has an array of programmes to stir up its viewers and make it`s viewing more interesting. There are a series of half-hour programmes every day on different aspects of Bollywood - Studio Beat, Money Talkies, Director`s Cut to name a few. For example, Studio Beat covers all the studios in Mumbai and all that happens behind the scenes. To add to the fun there are also a variety of very catchy vignettes (comic bites) like Gol Maal, Too Much, etc which act as fillers.

Currently B4U is losing its charm because of major hurdles from channels like Sony Max and Zee cinema and the like. Now, at this age B4U movies is last in the movie channel lineup. A better strategy would be to increase reach by carving out a space for B4U before taking on competition. The channel is planning to enter into a revenue share agreement with producers on a movie-to-movie basis by giving them 50 per cent share without bearing the promotional and marketing costs. They are also planning to make films available for direct-to-home (DTH) and MSOs on their cable movie channels for digital subscribers. Also, unique to the channel is its commitment to nurturing creativity for which they have tied up with sulekha.com, which will co-host a script-writing contest, the award winning ones will be made into films. These new and innovative marketing strategies are sure to help regain the lost place for the greatest movie channel of India.

Recently, B4U plans to distribute the channels on their own and utilize a network of dedicated dealers. B4U plans to go standalone as it feels that Hindi Movies along with Sports are still the prime driving force for Cable Television in India. Also unlike sports, Movies is a 365 days affair with vast latitude of entertainment options. B4U has also taken the initiative to launch a third independent platform for standalone and non-competing popular channels at a very reasonable price to promote the concept of value-for-money. B4U is also planning a Tamil language movie channel aimed at the overseas market and eventually five entertainment-related Internet portals. B4U already has a Bollywood business-to-business and business-to-commerce portal and also a fashion portal.