Star to exit news business in India

April 16, 2012 07:23 pm | Updated 07:23 pm IST - New Delhi

Rupert Murdoch-promoted Star Group on Monday said it is exiting from news business in India and will end brand association with the ABP Group in their joint venture that runs three news channels, including Star News in Hindi.

“Given the current regulatory environment and structural issues ailing the Indian cable and satellite television market and the news genre in particular, Star took this extremely difficult decision to withdraw its brand from the genre,” Star India said in a statement.

In 2003, Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) Group and STAR India Pvt Ltd, a part of the Star Group, had formed a 74:26 joint venture — MCCS.

“Star and ABP have agreed to discontinue the Star brand affiliation with Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS), which operates three Star-branded news channels, Star News , Star Ananda and Star Majha ,” the statement added.

In a separate statement, MCCS said Hindi news channel, Star News , will be rechristened as ABP News . Similarly, Bengali news channel Star Ananda will be renamed ABP Ananda and the Star Majha will be called ABP Majha .

“The core business of the ABP is news and it wishes to promote and establish its own brands in the broadcast news space through its subsidiary company — MCCS,” it added.

Star India said discontinuation of the Star brand affiliation was one of the steps it proposed to refocus and reenergise the core strength of its business viz. general entertainment channels.

“The discontinuation will come in effect in phases from a period of two months to four months and the partners will work together to ensure a smooth transition during this period,” it added.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.