Asianet & Star joint venture

At last the Australian-American global media mogul Rupert Murdoch has entered into a joint venture with the Jupiter Entertainment Ventures owned by Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Justifying CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan’s apprehensions, the Asianet Communications Limited has come out in the open for the first time that they are going for a joint venture with the STAR network. But the only difference being that their news channel would not be coming under this joint venture.

Under the agreement and subject to regulatory approvals, STAR Jupiter (the new name) will have majority interest in the channels such as Asianet, Asianet Plus, Kannada channel Suvaran, Telugu channel Sitara and will own Tamil channel Vijay. The current management team of Asianet Communications Ltd, including vice-chairman and managing director K.Madhavan, will continue in their roles under the joint venture.

``I am very excited at this joint venture and partnership, which will potentially transform the entertainment television business in India. STAR has impressed me with its commitment to this marker, to its consumers and to its partnership with Jupiter. I am sure that this venture will set new standards in quality television entertainment for our customers and viewers,’’ said Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a press release issued here.

K.Madhavan said that this would enable Asianet to expand its horizons further and to extend better quality services to millions of its existing viewers who patronised Asianet so far and with whom Asianet enjoyed an emotional bond.

He also clarified that all the other Asianet companies including the company that owns and operates the news channels will continue to be under the same management and ownership as in the past.

``This partnership allows us to connect deeply with the rapidly growing south Indian audience by providing compelling television that truly resonates with the viewers there. By adding the south Indian channels to our extensive portfolio of Hindi and regional language channels, STAR takes a big step towards becoming a truly national broadcaster in India,’’ said Paul Aiello, CEO of STAR.

STAR and Jupiter are also exploring a wide-range of areas for cooperation including film co-production by STAR Fox Studio Indian and Indigo Movies, Jupiter Entertainment’s movie production arm.