The Hindu Business Line : ACK Media acquires Karadi Tales

Chennai, April 23 ACK Media, the company that owns the Amar Chitra Katha series and Tinkle magazines, has acquired a controlling stake in Karadi Tales, a Chennai-based children’s audio-video content creator.

According to a press release, this will help ACK Media expand its product portfolio to all age groups across platforms including comics, books, CDs, VCDs and DVDs, and broaden the company’s distribution and in-store presence.

Karadi Tales will continue to operate as an independent company. The founding team comprising Mr C. P. Viswanath, Ms Shobha Viswanath and Mr Narayan Parshuram will focus on new audio and video product development for retail, online and broadcast markets. The two companies will share their sales, marketing and distribution network, the release said.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Viswanath, Director, Karadi Tales, said the development would enable both companies to expand content very substantially.

“We’ve not created an entity like Disney in the Indian context though the opportunity is there. The expansion could help.”

On how the deal would affect content produced by Karadi Tales and ACK Media, he said that while both brands would continue to take their own individual paths, the deal was struck with a longer-term perspective, and over time the brands would decide on whether they should become one or remain separate. Karadi Tales has over 45 titles in its audio-video book collection for children. They comprise Indian rhymes for toddlers, mythology and stories from the Panchatantra, Jataka Tales and Indian classic fables and folklore. These are narrated by well-known film and theatre personalities such as Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Gulzar and Usha Uthup. Headquartered in Mumbai, ACK Media has a design studio in Bangalore.

Mr Samir Patil, CEO, ACK Media, was quoted in the press release as saying that the brands share a lot of synergy because of similarity of customer base and focus on innovation.

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