UTV (India)
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Formerly called
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United Television Software Communications Pvt. (1990–1998) |
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Media conglomerate |
| Founded | 22 June 1990 |
| Founder |
Ronnie Screwvala Zarina Screwvala |
| Headquarters | Mumbai, India |
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Key people
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Mahesh Samat (Managing director) |
| Products | Cable television, publishing, films, music, video games, broadcasting, radio |
| Parent |
The Walt Disney Company India (The Walt Disney Company) |
| Divisions |
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| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | www |
UTV Software Communications Ltd. (abbreviated as UTV) is an Indian mass media conglomerate owned by The Walt Disney Company India. UTV was incorporated as United Television Software Communications Pvt. Ltd. on 22 June 1990 by Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Screwvala. The company later became public on 27 November 1995 and was renamed to UTV Software Communications Ltd. effective from 19 March 1998. UTV was listed on the and the Indian , and its motion picture division, UTV Motion Pictures Plc was listed on the 's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
On August 2006, The Walt Disney Company acquired a 14.85 percent stake in UTV. This was subsequently hiked to 32.1 percent in 2008, the same level as UTV's founders Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Screwvala. The remaining shares were publicly traded. Disney eventually went on to increase its ownership in UTV to 100% thus making UTV Communications Software a wholly owned subsidiary.
At the time of incorporation, the group was primarily engaged in the production of television content for Doordarshan-Prasar Bharti and also production of ad films. In 1992, with the entry of satellite TV, ZEE TV commissioned the group for producing content of around 250 hours wherein it became one of the largest content providers. Around this time, it also expanded into the businesses of in-flight entertainment programming and dubbing. In 1993, the company acquired programs from outside producers and marketing airtime for UTV channels. In 1995, it launched a daily soap titled 'Shanti.' and ventured into the movie distribution business.
In May 1995, it acquired 54.60% stake in Laezer Production Private Limited to enter into the area of post-production. Laezer Production Private Limited was incorporated on 29 January 1982 and became a public company effective 27 November 1995. Subsequent to the acquisition of 54.60% stake by the UTV Group, Laezer Production Limited was renamed as UTV Studios Limited in December 1995. At that point of time, United Studios Limited (USL) was engaged in the business of providing post-production facilities to television software houses, private producers and advertisers.
In 1996, Disney contracted the UTV Group to dub its distributed feature film library into Indian languages. During this year, the company’s In-flight Entertainment division, which was catering to Air India only, started catering to other international airlines.
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