HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Asianet is an Indian
Malayalam language Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
general entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousand ...
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of
The Walt Disney Company India The Walt Disney Company India Private Limited, known simply as Disney India, is the Indian subsidiary of the Indo Pacific region of the American media and entertainment conglomerate The Walt Disney Company and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharasht ...
. Asianet and its channels are operated by Asianet Star Communications, Wholly owned by Disney Star, the channel is headquartered in
Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
.
Asianet HD Asianet is an Indian Malayalam language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. Asianet and its channels are operated by Asianet Star Communica ...
is the first HD television channel in Malayalam.


Establishment by Dr Raji Menon

The channel was originally promoted by Dr Raji Menon in the mid 1990s. In late 2006, he partially pulled out of Asianet Communications, turning over control to
Rajeev Chandrasekhar Rajeev Chandrasekhar (born 31 May 1964) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the incumbent Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology of India. He is also an ...
(Jupiter Entertainment Ventures). Star India bought a 51% stake in Asianet Communications and formed a joint venture with JEV in November 2008. In 2014, Star India took full ownership of Asianet Communications.


History

Asianet’s story starts much earlier than in 1993, it starts in Moscow . Dr Raji Menon was a student there and Mr P.Unnikrishnan was the correspondent of PTI in Moscow. Dr Raji Menon became a successful businessman based in Moscow and Mr P Unnikrishnan became the General Manager of PTI in India. When Mr Unnikrishnan initiated the idea of PTI TV, Dr Raji Menon’s nephew Mr Sasikumar was appointed. When the Central government scraped Doordarsan’s monopoly, Mr Unnikrishnan was among the first to react and with Dr Raji Menon they planned to start a National channel. Four of the leading news papers and PTI itself, were to join in with Dr Menon as the Chief promotor and Mr Unnikrishnan at the helm of the Channel ( after his retirement from PTI ). Dr Menon negotiated for a transponder on the Russian satellite EKRAN, with a powerful beam over India , which meant that using a cheep spiral antenna the signal could be received all over India. In the absence of any cable connectivity in India , without the sanction to do terrestrial transmission, this was a good solution. The transponder was very costly, the satellite had the life span of two years and there were only two transponders on the satellite. In India ill fate hit the idea. Mr Unnikrishnan was terminally ill with lung cancer and now the whole idea was in a limbo. Mr Sashikumar and Mr Madhavankutty of Mathrubhoomi ( Delhi ) suggested tuning down the idea to a Malayalam Channel and Dr Raji Menon agreed and the first Malayalam Channel was born . Asianet’s logo is a derivative of Dr Menon’s company logo. Dr Menon’s office in Chennai became Asianet’s head office. To address the issue of cable networking a separate company called Asianet Satelite Communications was formed. Mr P Bhaskaran the renowned poet was the figurehead chairman. Dr Menon being not full time in India , on his behalf Mr Sashikumar the favourite nephew was in charge. Asianet Communications was registered with Dr C P Chandrasekhar and Mr Sashikumar as the first directors as Dr Menon as a NRI needed RBI clearance to own a media company . Dr Menon bought Uma Studio from the famous Malayalam actor Mr Madhu and this became Asianet’s Puliarkonam Studio. Mr Karunakaran the CM granted sanction to use the Electricity poles for cable networking. This was a mammoth effort. In the absence of bank financing 50% shares of the cable networking company was sold to Raheja Group. Dr Menon increased Mr Sashikumar's share from the initial 5% to 45% in stages. 5% of the equity was with Mr Raghu Nandan (Dr Menon’ elder brother). Dr Menon bought back the shares earlier given to Mr Sashikumar in 1999 at an agreed price, and took over full control of Asianet. The remaining 50% shares in Asianet Satellite communications, the cable networking company was also sold to The Raheja Group who now had complete ownership of the Cable Networking Company called Asianet Satellite Communications. Asianet started one more channel as Asianet Global on 6 July 2001 to cater to the Malayalees outside India, and this was later restructured into a News Channel. Asianet aired its first news bulletin starting 30 September 1995. Under an arrangement with the Russian embassy with the help o
Dr Ratheesh Nair
(current), the Gorky Bhavan was repaired and taken over by Asianet. Asianet news operated from Gorky Bhavan from 2000. The central Government sanction for a full-fledged news channel took time and hence it was launched much later than planned on 1 May 2003.


Rajiv Chandrasekhar era (2006–2008)


Star India acquisitions (2008–2014)

Asianet was restructured into four companies in June 2008 (general entertainment, news, radio and media infrastructure). This move was to allow separate investments in each company. Star India started talks with the owners of the Asianet channels in August, 2008. Star India eventually bought a 51% stake in Asianet Communications and formed a joint venture with JEV in November 2008. The joint venture, called "Star Jupiter", comprised all general entertainment channels of Asianet 8 October 2013 Bombay 12 March Communications (Asianet,
Asianet Plus Asianet is an Indian Malayalam language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. Asianet and its channels are operated by Asianet Star Communicat ...
, Asianet Suvarna and Asianet Sitara) and
Star Vijay Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India), a subsidiary of Asianet Star Communications. The channel's headquarters is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay change ...
. Star India had reportedly paid $235 million in cash for the 51% stake and assumed net debt of approximately $20 million. It's not clear how much stake Dr.Menon held in the new Star Jupiter venture. Prior to forming the JV, it was known that the original founder had held about 26% stake. Star India increased its stake in Asianet Communications to 75% in July 2010 (for which Star India paid around $90 million in cash), and to 87%, by acquiring 12% stake for $160 million in June, 2013. The later move was by virtue of acquiring a 19% equity stake in Vijay TV from Chandrasekhar and Asianet Communications MD Madhavan. Following the June, 2013 investment, Asianet Communications was valued at $1.33 billion. Star India acquired 100% stake in Asianet Communications (buying the remaining 13% stake) in March 2014. Star India was a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. Upon
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
acquiring most of 21st Century Fox on March 20, 2019, Asianet Star Communications, along with all of Star India's subsidiaries, became subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company, and restructuring put them under
Disney India The Walt Disney Company India Private Limited, known simply as Disney India, is the Indian subsidiary of the Indo Pacific region of the American media and entertainment conglomerate The Walt Disney Company and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharasht ...
.


Coverage and viewership

Asianet has a presence in over 60 countries worldwide including the Indian sub-continent, China,
South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
, Middle East, Europe, United States and the lower half of the former
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.


Sister channels


Asianet Plus

''Asianet Plus'' is second
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
General Entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousand ...
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
channel owned by Disney Star. It telecasts serials, retelecast of Asianet's old serials, and movies.


Asianet Movies

''
Asianet Movies Asianet is an Indian Malayalam language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. Asianet and its channels are operated by Asianet Star Communicat ...
'' is an Indian
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
language
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
movie channel {{Redirect, Movie channel, the American premium television network, The Movie Channel Movie channels are television specialty channels that present film content. Popular movie channels: * AMC Networks ** AMC ** IFC (United States and Canada) ** ...
that was launched on 15 July 2012. The channel is wholly owned by
Asianet Star Communications Asianet Star Communications, formerly Asianet Communications, is an Indian media company headquartered in Trivandrum owned by Disney Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Asianet Star Communications operates Malayalam ch ...
, a subsidiary of Disney Star. It's HD Feed, ''Asianet Movies HD'', is launching soon. The channel usually telecast movies that aired on Asianet. Some movies like Chunkzz, Meri Awas Suno,
19(1)(a) ''19(1)(a)'' is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by debutant Indhu V. S. It stars Nithya Menen, Vijay Sethupathi, and Indrajith Sukumaran. The film is produced by Anto Joseph and Neeta Pinto. The film marks Vijay ...
,
Innale Vare Innale Vare is an Indian Malayalam-language film, which is directed by Jis Joy and produced by Mathew George. The film stars Asif Ali, Nimisha Sajayan and Antony Varghese in lead roles. The film was directly released on SonyLIV OTT platform on ...
,
Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
are premiered through the channel.


Programming


Direct Television Premiere

Due to
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic lockdown in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, Malayalam movie
Kilometers and Kilometers ''Kilometers and Kilometers'' is an Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama road movie directed by Jeo Baby. The film is jointly produced by Tovino Thomas, Ramshi Ahamed, Anto Joseph and Sinu Sidharth, under the banner of Anto Joseph Film Compa ...
released directly through Asianet on 30 August 2020 on the occasion of
Onam Onam ( ) is an annual Indian harvest festival celebrated predominantly by the Hindus of Kerala. A major annual event for Keralites, it is the official festival of the state and includes a spectrum of cultural events. Onam commemorates Vamana ...
.


Award Functions


Asianet Film Awards

Asianet has an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet. Asianet says that awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both artistic and technical excellence in the Malayalam language film industry.


Asianet Television Awards

Awards for the Television Serials were started with this name, every year best serials were nominated and presented awards to them.


References


External links

* {{official Malayalam-language television channels Television channels and stations established in 1993 Television stations in Thiruvananthapuram Disney Star 1993 establishments in Kerala