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Asianet News is an Indian Malayalam free-to-air news channel, operated by the Asianet News Network, a subsidiary of Asianxt Digital Technologies. The channel is based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Asianet News is currently one of the market leaders in the Malayalam television news sector.
Malayalam general entertainment channels, Asianet, Asianet Plus, and Asianet Movies, owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It presently has no connections with the Asianet News Network channels.
Asianet Communications was the first entertainment television company in Malayalam.
With Asianet Global not fetching returns, the management decided to go in for an entertainment channel called "Asianet Plus" and terminate Asianet Global. Midway through the launching and wind-up process, there was a rethink and the concept of a news channel was revived. It was initially reported in the media that a news channel would be launched by December 2002. The channel was expected to have news programmes in the evenings after which there would be a variety of entertainment programmes. Hourly news bulletins were also expected. Asianet Global was eventually renamed as "Asianet News" on 1 May 2003. The company's MD, K. Madhavan, told the media that the entire channel had also been restructured in the process.
Chandrasekhar had acquired a 51% stake in the Asianet channels (Asianet, Asianet News, and Asianet Plus) through Jupiter Entertainment Ventures (JEV) in October 2006. While there was no official word from Asianet on the size of the investment, the figure is thought to range between INR 120-150 crore. The remaining 49% stake was still held by Menon and Asianet MD K. Madhavan with the Zee Group holding a small 3% stake. Madhavan continued as the MD of Asianet, while Chandrasekhar took over as the chairman of the company. Asianet Communications soon launched its foray into the Kannada and Telugu television industry with Star Suvarna and Asianet Sitara.
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 Communications (Asianet, Asianet Plus, Star Suvarna and Disney Star) and Star Vijay. Star India had reportedly paid $235 million in cash for the 51% stake and assumed a net debt of approximately $20 million. It's not clear how much stake Raji Menon held in the new Star Jupiter venture. Before forming the JV, it was known that the founder (Menon) had held about 26% stake. In the wake of media reports about the Star takeover, Asianet Vice-chairman Madhavan issued a media release saying: "There is no basis for the speculation that the policies of the Asianet News Network (ANN) will fall under foreign Disney Star control".
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 a 12% stake for $160 million in June 2013. The latter move was by 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 a 100% stake in Asianet Communications (buying the remaining 13% stake) in March 2014.
Chandrasekhar was one of the largest investors in ARG Outlier Asianet News, the parent company of the English-language news channel Republic TV. Chandrasekhar, through Asianet, had invested over ₹30 crore in ARG Outlier. SARG Media Holding - owned by Arnab Goswami - is other major investor in ARG Outlier Asianet News. In May 2019, Asianet diluted its shareholding in the Republic Media Network by selling a large amount its shares to Goswami. Currently, Asianet News is a minority investor in Republic TV.
According to Jacob George, a prominent commentator, Asianet News has had a "secular and progressive stance" since the time of its inception in 2003. In his opinion, the current editorial leadership at the news channel is "not easily malleable" and has "immense credibility". According to the Caravan magazine, Asianet News, is "by wide consensus, the most popular and credible news channel in Kerala".
Jupiter Capital, according to the email, wanted their new editors to be "right of centre in his/her editorial tonality" and "well familiarised with his (Rajeev Chandrasekhar's) thoughts on nationalism and governance". The letter explicitly said that the fresh "editorial talent should be aligned to Rajeev Chandrasekhar's ideology" (Rajeev Chandrasekhar was a Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP).
Amit Gupta, on the very next day, had to retract the email because of internal editorial pushback.
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