Thakur
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Discovery is acquiring a significant majority stake in Turmeric Vision, the company which owns and operates FoodFood channel, while Malaysia-based Astro is exiting.
“Astro and Sandeep Goyal’s Mogae Consultants will get out of the venture.
Discovery and founder-promoter and celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor will be shareholders in Turmeric Vision,” a source familiar with the development said.
Astro currently holds around 73% equity in Turmeric Vision, while Kapoor and Mogae Consultants own the remaining stake, the source added.
Mogae Consultants’ current holding is around 5%.. Kapoor and Goyal will initially buy out Astro’s stake in Turmeric Vision.
The shareholding will change to around 80% in favour of Kapoor while Goyal will own the remaining portion.
Discovery will subsequently buy out the shares of Goyal and acquire a major chunk of Kapoor’s holding.
“Goyal will cease to be a shareholder. Discovery is likely to hold around 74% stake and Kapoor 26% in Turmeric Vision,” the source said.
The deal will help Discovery strengthen its position in the lifestyle genre, as it will be the only broadcaster to have two channels in this space.
The global conglomerate owns TLC, which competes with Fox Life and a breed of homegrown lifestyle channels including NDTV Good Times and Essel Group-owned Living Foodz.
“The deal will give Discovery a local channel in the food genre.
While it had TLC as part of its global offering, it did not have a pure-play food channel.
Besides, Kapoor is a strong brand in the food genre,” a media analyst said.
The acquisition of FoodFood signals the first signs of consolidation in the lifestyle genre. Being just a one-channel broadcaster, FoodFood faced several challenges, including hefty carriage fees on cable TV networks.
Operating in a niche space, scaling up was an issue.
Moreover, Astro was reluctant to up its investments to expand the business. “Lifestyle has become a very competitive genre.
While global lifestyle channels needed local content to expand in the Indian market, the homegrown channels found scale-up difficult.
It is good that FoodFood has found a strategic investor,” a senior executive of a broadcasting company said.
As a majority owner, Discovery will bring in strategic value and Kapoor can now restart his expansion plans for FoodFood.
Earlier, FoodFood was looking to launch three regional-language TV channels and invest in digital initiatives like e-commerce.
The plan was to launch in Tamil and Telugu languages.
The third channel could be an audio feed in Kannada.
Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/discovery-to-acquire-majority-stake-in-foodfood-astro-to-exit/ | TelevisionPost.com
“Astro and Sandeep Goyal’s Mogae Consultants will get out of the venture.
Discovery and founder-promoter and celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor will be shareholders in Turmeric Vision,” a source familiar with the development said.
Astro currently holds around 73% equity in Turmeric Vision, while Kapoor and Mogae Consultants own the remaining stake, the source added.
Mogae Consultants’ current holding is around 5%.. Kapoor and Goyal will initially buy out Astro’s stake in Turmeric Vision.
The shareholding will change to around 80% in favour of Kapoor while Goyal will own the remaining portion.
Discovery will subsequently buy out the shares of Goyal and acquire a major chunk of Kapoor’s holding.
“Goyal will cease to be a shareholder. Discovery is likely to hold around 74% stake and Kapoor 26% in Turmeric Vision,” the source said.
The deal will help Discovery strengthen its position in the lifestyle genre, as it will be the only broadcaster to have two channels in this space.
The global conglomerate owns TLC, which competes with Fox Life and a breed of homegrown lifestyle channels including NDTV Good Times and Essel Group-owned Living Foodz.
“The deal will give Discovery a local channel in the food genre.
While it had TLC as part of its global offering, it did not have a pure-play food channel.
Besides, Kapoor is a strong brand in the food genre,” a media analyst said.
The acquisition of FoodFood signals the first signs of consolidation in the lifestyle genre. Being just a one-channel broadcaster, FoodFood faced several challenges, including hefty carriage fees on cable TV networks.
Operating in a niche space, scaling up was an issue.
Moreover, Astro was reluctant to up its investments to expand the business. “Lifestyle has become a very competitive genre.
While global lifestyle channels needed local content to expand in the Indian market, the homegrown channels found scale-up difficult.
It is good that FoodFood has found a strategic investor,” a senior executive of a broadcasting company said.
As a majority owner, Discovery will bring in strategic value and Kapoor can now restart his expansion plans for FoodFood.
Earlier, FoodFood was looking to launch three regional-language TV channels and invest in digital initiatives like e-commerce.
The plan was to launch in Tamil and Telugu languages.
The third channel could be an audio feed in Kannada.
Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/discovery-to-acquire-majority-stake-in-foodfood-astro-to-exit/ | TelevisionPost.com
