Leading media and entertainment company Star India on Wednesday said it will acquire four Telugu channels of Maa Television network for an undisclosed sum.
Maa TV group is owned by industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi and actor Nagarjuna. Maa network has four channels — Maa TV, Maa Movies, Maa Music and Maa Gold.
“Star will acquire all assets of Maa TV including broadcasting rights subject to regulatory approvals. After the approvals, Maa TV will become part of Star network. We do not have any Telugu channel in our portfolio,” Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, refusing to disclose financial details.
“Telugu market is an important market. However, the pace of innovation is slow. We are keen to change this by acquiring a local presence and fundamentally changing the content quality paradigm,” Shankar said.
Mr. Prasad said Maa TV, which enjoys 27 per cent market share, started with 120 employees and has grown to 500 employees now. A senior official of Star Network said the Telugu television industry is currently rated as the second largest region market after Tamil.
Matrix Laboratories, one of the world’s largest suppliers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) promoted by Mr. Prasad, was acquired by Mylan Inc in 2007 for $736 million.
