ITV

Tag: Asianet Communications

  • Disney Star elevates Amrutha Nair’s position as head ad sales – Hindi & English entertainment

    Disney Star elevates Amrutha Nair’s position as head ad sales – Hindi & English entertainment

    Mumbai: Disney Star India has elevated Amrutha Nair as head of ad sales for Hindi and English entertainment. She will take over from Arghya Chakravarty who has moved on from the company after a five-year association.

    Nair’s role has been expanded in addition to her current responsibility where she is managing the product and revenue strategy for the regional business.

    Nair began her career with Asianet Communications following which she joined TV Today Network to handle their ad sales for Southern markets. She re-joined Star in 2016 as product & revenue head for English cluster following which she moved on to the regional business in April 2017. 

  • Asianet launches HD feed

    Asianet launches HD feed

    MUMBAI: Asianet, the first Malayalam satellite TV channel, has launched a high definition version of the channel – Asianet HD.

     

    This is the first HD channel in Malayalam, which went live on 13 August, 2015.

     

    With 20 plus years of experience in visual media, Asianet Communications has created a new history by opening the high definition visual quality and Dolby 5.1 sound quality to viewers.

     

    The HD channel will include movies, serials, reality shows and other entertainment programmes.

     

  • Star India paid $160 mn for added 12% interest in Asianet Communications

    Star India paid $160 mn for added 12% interest in Asianet Communications

    MUMBAI:  Star India’s equity interest in Asianet Communications in June 2013 increased by 12 per cent to 87 per cent from the earlier 75 percent. The price the India subsidiary of 21st Century Fox paid for the additional interest in the south Indian general entertainment television network was approximately $160 million.

     

    The price paid by Star India for the additional interest values Asianet Communications at $1.33 billion.

     

    According to 21st Century Fox, in June 2013, it acquired the 19 per cent stake in Vijay Television that it didn’t own and, as a result, it now owns 87 per cent interest in Asianet Communications.

     

    Star India holds its interest in Asianet Communications through Vijay Television. The 19 per cent equity stake in Vijay Television that it bought in June 2013 was held by Rajeev Chandrasekhar and K Madhavan.

     

    In January 2009, Star India and Asianet TV Holdings formed a venture Star Jupiter and the Asianet Communication’s general entertainment channels were brought under the joint venture. Star India’s Tamil channel, Star Vijay was also consolidated with the Asianet channels but the shareholding structure of Asianet Communications is not clearly known as it is a closely held company.

     

    In 2009, Star India paid approximately $235 million in cash and assumed net debt of approximately $20 million for a controlling interest in the four channels owned by Asianet. The price Star India paid for the 51 per cent stake in 2009 meant Asianet Communications was then valued at $500 million.

     

    Asianet Communications broadcasts Malayalam language channels Asianet and Asianet Plus, Kannada language channel Suvarna and Telugu channel Sitara.

     

    In July 2010, Star India increased its stake in Asianet communications to 75 per cent from 51 per cent, for which it paid approximately $90 million in cash.

     

    Asianet Communications was founded in 1991 by Reju Menon and Shashi Kumar. Rajeev Chandrasekhar acquired a 51 per cent stake in the company in 2006 for a reported price of Rs 150 crore (about $25 million at the current exchange rate) and also became its chairman.

  • Mathrubhumi to invest Rs 500 mn in news and music channel

    Mathrubhumi to invest Rs 500 mn in news and music channel

    MUMBAI: Mathrubhumi TV, the television arm of Kerala’s Mathrubhumi Group, is planning to invest Rs 500 million in a Malayalam news channel and a multi-lingual music channel.

     

    Mathrubhumi News will launch on 23 January while Kappa TV, the music channel, will go on air from 1 February.

     

    The launch of these two channels will mark print major Mathrubhumi’s entry into Kerala’s competitive TV news broadcasting space dominated by News Corp-owned Asianet Communications, its print media competitor Manorama News, news agency IANS’ Reporter TV and India Vision News.
        

    Both the channels are free-to-air and have already secured carriage deals with most of the cable operators in the state including Asianet Cable Television, Kerala’s biggest multi-system operator (MSO). The company is also planning to launch the news channel in Gulf and in metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi.

     

    Mathrubhumi TV chief executive officer Mohan Nair, who has earlier worked with Asianet Communications as COO and Sri Lankan media conglomerate Maharaja Broadcasting Corporation as CEO, believes that the television foray is a natural extension for the Mathrubhumi Group as it has interests in print through leading Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi and in radio courtesy Club FM.

     

    “We had diversified into radio some years back and so we saw a rightful extension in television,” Nair says.

     

    Mathrubhumi TV, which is also into content production, is a subsidiary of Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd. (MPPCL).

     

    For 2010-11, MPPCL reported a net profit of Rs 300.4 million on net sales of Rs 3.89 billion. For the nine months ended 31 December, 2012, the company reported a net profit of Rs 238.6 million on net revenues of Rs 3.28 billion.

     

    The TV News foray

     

    Launching a news channel was a no-brainer for the Malayalam media company as it complements Mathrubhumi’s print media business. The 90-year-old Mathrubhumi newspaper is the flagship brand of the company and competes with Malayala Manorama which incidentally also runs a news channel, Manorama News.

     

    Nair, who has also served as the chief of bureau of Economic Times in Mumbai, believes that the news channel’s USP will be its HD technology, talented team of journalists, and independent coverage.

     

    The last bit is important as Kerala has political party backed news channels namely Congress’ Jaihind TV and CPI (M)’s People TV.

     

    “There are only four to five pure news channels in Kerala. Our USP is that we will be an independent news channel,” avers Nair.

     

    News broadcasters in Kerala, like in the rest of the country, are heavily dependent on ad revenue, which is estimated to be in the region of Rs 1 billion.

     

    The news channel will have Unni Krishnan as the Chief of News with a team of 250 journalists assisting him. Mathrubhumi News will have a bureau in every district of Kerala which will give it an edge in covering locally relevant issues.

     

    Outside Kerala, the channel will also have bureaus in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.

     

    Although news channels have a skew towards male audience, Mathrubhumi News will have programming that targets women and youth. “The idea is to have a complete news channel which offers something to everyone,” asserts Nair.

     

    The channel is being promoted primarily through Mathrubhumi’s print and radio platform apart from outdoor ads.

     

    Kappa TV to follow 9XM model

     

    The Mathrubhumi Group is also betting big on its speciality channel Kappa TV that will air music and humour content. The company will follow the 9XM model which has a mix of music and animated content.

     

    Kappa TV will air Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and English songs in order to cater to the diverse taste of the state’s youth population.

     

    However, Malayalam music will continue to be the driver content for the channel. The channel is targeted at 18-35 age group.

     

    The Malayalam music genre currently has only two serious players in Asianet Plus and Raj Musix Malayalam.

     

    “With Kappa TV, we intend to bring elements of radio on television,” says Nair.

  • Asianet gears up for summer season with new initiatives

    Asianet gears up for summer season with new initiatives

    MUMBAI: Asianet Communications has announced a slew of new initiatives for its main channel Asianet and the youth channel Asianet Plus. These include prime time soaps, sitcoms and talent hunts.

    Asianet will unveil a sitcom Sanmamasullavarkku Samadhanam, starting 24 April. The serial will run Monday through Friday at 10 pm. Directed by K V Sasikumar, the serial features Suraj Venjaramood, Mayamaushmi and Narayanankutty in title roles.

    In the comedy genre, Asianet has already launched a talent hunt show Minnum Thaaram (Shining Star) for Sundays at 8:30 pm. Anchored by popular film actor Jagadish, the one hour show is the search for the best of comedy talent in Malayalam. The channel is also bringing the popular cartoon serial Turtle Island to Malayalam for the first time. The show will attempt to lure the kids on Sundays at 9:35 am.

    A wide ranges of programmes are being launched in Asianet Plus to keep viewers glued to the television during the summer holidays. The half hour show Crazy TV is hosted and woven together by the popular comedy talents Sabumon, Prajod and Joy. The show will have three primary segments in Crazy Records, Funny Games and Sukumaran Reporting. There will be assorted segments by Joy in a pantomime where he is this innocent man who goes about doing things in his simple way but unknowingly set off a chain of accidents and other funny consequences.

    Romance and humour are the two themes of film feast that will feature clippings from Malayalam films. The five minute programme Reel News is targeted at ardent film buffs who want to be in tune with all the latest gossip and happenings in mollywood.

    Another show Screen Test is a acting talent hunt programme, as the name suggests. The winners will get a chance to act in a serial produced by Asianet Plus.