If the reports from the power corridors of Tadepally are correct, the online cinema ticketing contract in Andhra Pradesh is expected to be grabbed by JusTickets, a popular Chennai-based online ticketing firm.
Allu Venkatesh alias Bobby, younger son of popular producer Allu Aravind is a director and is believed to be one of the major stakeholders in the company.
According to these reports, JusTickets has emerged as the lowest bidder (L-1) among the bidders for the online cinema ticketing, tenders for which were called by AP Technological Services on behalf of Andhra Pradesh State Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation recently.
Interestingly, only two firms had taken part in the tender. While JusTickets is the lowest bidder, the second bidder (L-2) which has a tie-up with a online ticketing business firm based out of middle-east countries, has quoted a little more and hence, has been eliminated.
Other players in the business, including Bookmyshow.com and PayTM, did not evince interest in participating in the tenders’ process for online ticketing in Andhra Pradesh, as they do not want to enter the mess in the government-run online ticketing business.
In all probability, Allu family will grab the contract for the online ticketing which will come into effect from April 1. So, all the film goers have to buy cinema tickets only online and there would be no sale of cinema tickets at the theatre counters.
It is not exactly known whether there would be any further increase in cinema ticket rates in Andhra Pradesh, as the people have to pay for the online charges apart from the ticket prices.
Since the contract is being given to the private parties, they would definitely charge Rs 15-20 per ticket towards operational expenses!
