Doon School alumnus Nikhil Deogun will start the new year as the managing editor for business day programming at CNBC (NYSE: GE), Media Decoder reported. He is currently international editor at The Wall Street Journal. Deogun is among the highest ranking journalists of Indian origin in American journalism and will…

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Studios Motion Pictures India has named Seshasaye Kanthamraju as director, marketing and distribution. Kanthamraju has been with Disney for five years and previously was director, corporate communications. “In his role, Seshasaye will be responsible for overall Marketing and Distribution strategy for the theatrical slate. He will…

Diversified media firm UTV Software Communications today said it has expanded its board of directors with two non-executive directors, one of whom will be an independent director. Sanjay Purohit, executive director, marketing for Cadbury in India, joins UTV board as an independent non-executive director and Rob Gilby, senior vice president…

Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) & Co. In., the News Corp.-owned company that runs Dow Jones Newswires and publishes The Wall Street Journal, will double its investment in India for each of the next two years, the company’s India managing director Mitya New told Mint. For the firm, its India operations…

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Studios Home Entertainment India, which handles the home video business of the entertainment conglomerate, has decided to break away from its long standing local partner Excel Home Videos and adopt the direct-to-retail model, where an in-house team will do the marketing and sales and bulk of…

UTV Software Communications Ltd, the Ronnie Screwvala-promoted diversified media firm that is now majority owned by The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), clarified a host of business-related issues in an earnings release yesterday, when it said net profit for the quarter ended 31 March was down 51% to Rs13 crore.…

HT Media Ltd’s business daily Mint and CNBC (NYSE: GE) TV18 have announced a content alliance whereby the two outlets will feature content from the other. Mint announced the partnership in a front page note to readers today, which points to the CNBC-branded inside page. Today’s featured content has two…

CNBC (NYSE: GE) TV18, India’s top business news channel in terms of ratings, and Mint, HT Media Ltd’s business daily, are entering into a marketing and editorial alliance under which CNBC will feature some editorial content from Mint and vice-versa, according to a source at one of the companies. We…

This deal marks the completion of the first major buyout of an integrated media house by a multi-national firm. Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) has completed the acquisition of UTV Software. The second largest US media house has acquired 22.65% in the open offer and has raised its holding in the…

UTV Software Communications Ltd has sold 15 per cent stake in its broadcasting arm, UTV Global Broadcasting Ltd (UGBL), to Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Co Pte Ltd for $28.15 million. UGBL has allotted 3,00,000 equity shares to Walt Disney, said UTV Software informing the Bombay Stock Exchange. At the same…

Update: Looks like Reuters (NSDQ: RTRSY) got it wrong: just spoke to a UTV spokesperson, who told me that Disney’s (NYSE: DIS) open offer to UTV Software shareholders is a part of the process of acquiring 32.1 percent stake. So Disney will not acquire a controlling, 52.1 percent stake. Original…

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), which has been a 15 percent stake holder in Indian TV company UTV, is going to announce an increase in its stake this Monday. The announcement will come at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday morning, with executives from both sides present, including Ronnie Screwvala,…

ESPN-STAR Sports (ESS) has acquired the mobile rights of India’s tour of Australia from Cricket Australia, the governing body of Cricket in Australia; this give Mobile ESPN (NYSE: DIS) the right to mobile content including video clips, wallpapers and animation. ESS has declined to comment on the price of the…

Our mails to TN Prabhu and calls to Disney (NYSE: DIS) on this had not yielded anything, but a release just in from UTV now confirms it: TN Prabhu, Director at the Walt Disney Internet Group, has quit Disney India to join United New Media Ventures, UTVs digital media initiative…

CNBC-TV18 reports that Disney (NYSE: DIS) is on the lookout for acquisitions in India, and it’s believed that they are planning to increase their stake in UTV. Disney currently owns 14.85 percent in UTV, which they had picked up for Rs. 65 crore (around $14 million at that time). Disney…

Mahesh Samat has been named the Managing Director of the Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Company (India). Samat over twenty years of experience across India, Asia-Pacific and Europe, and joins from Johnson & Johnson, where he was MD for Southern Europe, based out of London. Before that, he has worked with…

Buongiorno (BIT: BNG) (Hong Kong) Limited today announced the appointment of Kavi Madan as VP for New Business Initiatives and Subhash R. Ghosh as VP Business Operations for India. Madan joins from Mauj where he was AVP, responsible for setting up the company’s operations in North and East India, and…

Disney has appointed Swati Shetty as Director (India), responsible for Disney-ABC International Television’s TV distribution business across all platforms in India. Shetty will be based in Mumbai. She will report to Amit Malhotra, Regional Sales Director (Pan Asia, India and Singapore) and Disney India MD, a position currently overseen by…

The way they price these things…Disney has launched mobile comics - both full stories and single comic strips - on the decks of Reliance Communications, Airtel and Hutch, reports BS. They’ve priced the comic strips at Rs. 3 each on Reliance Communication networks, and entire comics at Rs. 50 on…