BRO connects strategic Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road in Ladakh

The water-borne disease has spread its wings and taken a toll at Balisahi Barahi Lane in the pilgrim city. While two people have died, several people are undergoing treatment for the disease.    

Ironically, health department officials are yet to reach the affected habitation. 

The main reason behind the spread of the disease is the consumption of contaminated water. It is learned that tap water has been polluted due to leakage in the pipe laid along a nullah. 

"Tap water is smelling odd. Consumption of contaminated water has spread diarrhoea," said a woman whose husband was affected and cured after hours of treatment.

She said a medical team has not visited their village even though many people have suffered from the disease. 

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The scenario, though, is changing. Theatres too are taking the ad-free route to offer an unparalleled cinematic experience to the audience, which hasn't been forthcoming about going to watch movies on the big screen.

So, how does a theatre earn additional revenue if it gives up on commercials before each show and during intermissions? Commercials, after all, have been a feature of the cinema-viewing experience for as long as people remember.

Well, the trick seems to be the utilisation of time. The string of advertisements per screening of a movie clocks anywhere between 30-35 minutes. Bypassing commercials, each theatre can save about 45 minutes and use it for the next screening, thereby generating additional revenue from ticket sales and food and beverage services.

The ad-free movie experience is now available in the luxury segment of PVR INOX. The idea behind this experience stems from the time-conscious nature of the audience.

Renaud Palliere, Chief of The Luxury Collection and Innovation, PVR INOX Limited, in a conversation with IANS, shared insights into why the chain has decided to go ad-free for the premium segment.

"We discovered that a specific audience set valued time more than anything else," Palliere said. "The pre-show segment or the advertisements run for 30 to 40 minutes and we learnt that this audience figured that out. Not only did they figure it out, they also started arriving late for the movies to avoid the ads. They arrived close to the showtime. The doors of the hall are open as soon as it is ready to seat the audience."

Talking about the impact of the changing audience behaviour, Palliere said, "Their arrival at the hall a few minutes before the screening of the movie kind of defeated the purpose of advertisements. That's the reason we decided to come up with providing an ad-free experience to the viewers. As I mentioned, this set of audience is willing to pay more, but doesn’t like to compromise on time."

Palliere added that PVR INOX has decided to launch the ad-free experience for movies in three cities -- Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru -- in about 10 "ultra premium" Insignia and Director's Cut cinemas, and "the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive".

Palliere added: “They now experience only 10 minutes of the pre-show package, which consists of trailers and teasers of upcoming movies."

The revenues of each of the participating theatres have not been affected in the least. LED installations and plasma screens in the lounge and the gallery of each theatre are still very much intact, ensuring a steady flow of revenue from ads. These are the common areas and are accessed by the audience cutting across all segments.

The multiplex chain has no plans of rolling out the ad-free experience to the rest of its cinemas, except those in the premium segment, which will see a further scaling up in the second phase of the rollout.

"Beyond the premium group of patrons, there seems to be no point in rolling out this feature to other audience segments that watch movies in theatres," Palliere concluded.

(IANS)

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MI are at ninth place in the points table, while DC are at sixth position. The last time these two teams met in IPL 2024, MI won by 29 runs in the afternoon game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai earlier this month.

After winning the toss, captain Hardik Pandya said fast-bowler Gerald Coetzee is out due to a stomach bug and left-arm pacer Luke Wood comes into the playing eleven. “The ground is small. It's better to bat second on a smaller ground. Every game is a new game, we make sure we are not out. We keep fighting and keep coming hard in each game.”

“The mood is fine, happy chats, all is well. You should not really focus on what has happened in the past. Anyone can beat anyone. Our goal is to play our brand of cricket and put our best foot forward,” he said.

DC skipper Rishabh Pant said he was looking to bat first, and added opener Prithvi Shaw is out due to an injury, with wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra coming into the playing eleven. DC have also got South Africa fast-bowler Lizaad Williams into the playing eleven in place of fellow countryman Anrich Nortje.

“I think it will get slower in the second innings. It has been amazing, we're getting the kind of wickets we want. As a team we have to play well and we have been. This is something we talked about - how to control the innings. Bowling with the new ball and bowling at the death is difficult, one over here or there is making all the difference,” he said.

The pitch for Saturday’s match has no grass and looks barren, with it expected to aid spinner. The square boundaries are at 59m and 64m respectively, with straight boundaries measured at 73m and one side of behind the wicket standing at just 54m.

Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kumar Kushagra, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (captain & wicketkeeper), Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Lizaad Williams, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed

Substitutes: Rasikh Dar Salam, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Ricky Bhui and Sumit Kumar

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hardik Pandya (captain), Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Piyush Chawla, Luke Wood, Jasprit Bumrah and Nuwan Thushara

Substitutes: Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Shams Mulani, Dewald Brevis and Kumar Kartikeya (IANS) 

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