Star India closes US$346MN acquisition of Maa TV


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Rebecca Hawkes

| 15 February 2016




21st Century Fox-owned TV network Star India has closed its purchase of Telugu language broadcaster Maa TV for US$346 million in cash.



The deal’s closure follows the approval by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in June 2015 of Star’s acquisition of Maa TV, Maa Music, Maa Gold and Maa Movies from industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi and actor Nagarjuna.

The acquisition will enable Star’s presence in four key South Indian language markets: namely Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala with Star Vijay, Suvarna and Asianet respectively.

When announcing the acquisition a year ago, Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India said: “The acquisition fills a vital gap in our portfolio, allowing our advertisers targeted access to a critical market. Telugu is the second biggest cable and satellite market and we didn’t have any offering in this language, so this acquisition will fit in that gap”.