ABP, Kaleidoscope strike content partnership

Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) and the Bobby Bedi-promoted entertainment company, Kaleidoscope Entertainment, have entered into a strategic partnership. As per the deal, ABP and Kaleidoscope will produce original content across media such as filmed entertainment, television, mobile phones and the Internet.

The ABP Group will invest Rs 20 crore into the venture, which will aid Kaleidoscope’s entry into new media, especially development of content in the television and mobile space.

Pramath Raj Sinha, MD and CEO, ABP, feels that the partnership is a good strategic decision. “We feel that ABP is a strong presence in media across genres and, with this deal, we make an entry into a new territory of entertainment.”

Bobby Bedi, MD, Kaleidoscope, says, “Entertainment has evolved and grown out of the traditional moulds.” Bedi is confident that the current annual growth rate of 50 per cent will be further propelled by the new customers added to the segment. He describes this as an obvious reason for his company to step into the picture and partner ABP in this venture.

The two parties, both experts and well known in their respective areas, aim to contribute to the technology driven entertainment content industry.

For the record, Kaleidoscope is an Indian production house which follows an international approach in film-making, offering film completion guarantees and insurance. It has to its credit films such as ‘Bandit Queen’, ‘Saathiya’, ‘Maqbool’ and ‘Mangal Pandey – The Rising’.

The ABP Group owns publications such as ‘Ananda Bazar Patrika’, ‘The Telegraph’ and the magazine, ‘Businessworld’. The group also has a presence in the television segment with news channels STAR News and STAR Ananda.

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