Star Maa is an Indian Telugu language general entertainment pay television channel operated by Disney Star, a subsidiary of Star India. It primarily telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows and Telugu films.

Star Maa
CountryIndia
Broadcast areaAsia
NetworkDisney Star
HeadquartersHyderabad, Telangana, India
Programming
Language(s)Telugu
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16.9 aspect ratio for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerStar India
Sister channelsDisney Star channels
History
Launched10 April 2002; 22 years ago (2002-04-10)
Former namesMaa TV (2002–2017)
Links
WebsiteStar Maa on Disney+ Hotstar
Availability
Streaming media
Disney+ HotstarIn India only

History

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Penmetsa Murali Krishnam Raju founded MAA Television Network in 2001 as a corporate entity.[1][2] Its flagship TV channel, MAA TV was launched in April 2002.[3][4] The channel started off as a pay channel with 18 hours of programming a day.[5] An initial investment of 25 crore was made into the venture.[5] D. Rajendra Prasad, a veteran of Telugu television business associated with Citi Cable, was also reportedly a co-promoter of the company.[6][5] As of 2003, Murali Krishnam Raju owned 70% of the company.[7]

In March 2006, Nimmagadda Prasad along with film stars Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna became promoters by purchasing 60% stake worth 40 crore.[8] After the revised capital structure, the three of them acquired equal stake in the channel. Founder Murali Krishna Raju's holding came down to 20% after the restructuring.[8]

The company's second channel, MAA Music, was launched on 30 May 2008.[9][1][2] On 4 February 2011, Maa TV Network launched two new channels, Maa Movies and Maa Junior with content focused on movies and children respectively.[10][11] Coinciding with the occasion, film actor Ram Charan was inducted as a Director on the board of the company.[11]

On 9 April 2012, an official announcement was made by Sony Pictures and Maa Television Network that the former would be picking up 30 percent of stake in the latter, subject to necessary approvals. However, the deal did not materialize.[12]

In February 2015, Star India acquired broadcast business of MAA Television Network for an estimated price of 2,000–2,500 crore.[13][14][15] At the time of acquisition, Nimmagadda Prasad had 65 percent stake in the company, Chiranjeevi and his family owned 20 percent, and Nagarjuna 10 percent.[14][12]

On 13 February 2017, Maa TV was rebranded as Star Maa with a new logo before the start of the Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu Season 4. In June 2017, Her sister channel, Maa Movies, Maa Music and Maa Gold were also rebranded into Star Maa Movies, Star Maa Music and Star Maa Gold.[16] On 6 September 2020, Star Maa introduced a new logo during the reality show Bigg Boss Telugu Season 4 Grand Launch.[17]

Programming

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Award functions

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CineMAA Awards

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Maa TV presents the CineMAA Awards to Tollywood personalities every year. The trophy was designed by Neil Foley Designs.[18]

Star Maa Parivaar Awards

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Awards from the television serials were started presenting from 2017 onward with this name, every year best serials were nominated and present awards to them[19]

Reception

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The channel is one of the most watched top five Telugu GECs.[20] As of 2010, it remained the third most watched Telugu GEC.[21] In the last quarter of 2014, Maa TV overtook Gemini TV to become the leader.[22]

Since 2017, the viewership of the channel started to have a great jump and it consistently became the most watched Telugu GEC after the launch of Bigg Boss Telugu with a record viewership and GRPs not garnered by any Telugu GEC.[23] In week 26 while it had 529 GRPs in week 28, it jumped to 828.[23] While as in week 28, it was at third position, in week 29, it became the most watched Telugu GEC.[24][25] In week 34 of 2018, it became the third most watched Indian Television channel with 936 GRPs.[26] In week 30 of 2019, it garnered its highest GRP of 1108 being third most watched Indian channel.[27][28]

References

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  1. ^ a b Prasanna, Sai (24 January 2012). "MAA TV to launch Telugu GEC on January 25". Exchange4media. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Maa TV launches Telugu GEC Maa Gold". afaqs!. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  3. ^ "MAA TV to celebrate one year with news channel". Indiantelevision.com. 9 April 2003. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  4. ^ Singh, Dr Paramveer (5 August 2021). Indian Silver Screen. K.K. Publications. p. 114.
  5. ^ a b c "Digital satellite Telugu channel Maa TV launching soon". Indiantelevision.com. 28 March 2002.
  6. ^ "The battle for eyeballs". The Times of India. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  7. ^ Business World. Vol. 23. ABP Group. 2003.
  8. ^ a b "Telugu stars, Matrix Labs promoter to take 60% stake in Maa TV". Indiantelevision.com. 23 March 2006.
  9. ^ "Maa TV launches music channel Maa Music". Indiantelevision.com. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Maa TV launches two new channels". The Hindu. 5 February 2011. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  11. ^ a b "MAA Juniors and MAA Movies channels launch". Idlebrain.com. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Star India enters Telugu GEC space, acquires 100% stake at Maa Television Network". Firstpost. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  13. ^ Sukumar, C. R.; Raghavendra, Nandini (12 February 2015). "Star India agrees to buy largest Telugu entertainment channel Maa TV". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  14. ^ a b "STAR India acquires MAA TV's broadcast business for Rs 2.5k cr". Business Standard India. 12 February 2015.
  15. ^ "Star India to acquire four Telugu Maa TV channels". The Hindu. 11 February 2015.
  16. ^ "Maa TV rechristened as Star Maa". bestmediainfo.com.
  17. ^ kalagara, Loshith (6 September 2020). "బ్రేకింగ్: స్టార్ మా లోగో చేంజ్". telugu news | Manalokam.com. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Maa TV to host Sandal Cinema Awards on 28 August". Indian Television. 26 January 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  19. ^ "Star Maa Parivaar Awards 2017, Winners List, Event Images And Telecast". Indian Television. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Going gets tougher for regional broadcasters as national players expand footprint". Business Today. 20 April 2015.
  21. ^ "Telugu television rewrites script in 2010 - Sun TV Network SVP, business head- Telugu cluster Sanjay Reddy". Indian Television dot com. 19 February 2011.
  22. ^ Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (25 July 2019). The Making of Star India: The Amazing Story of Rupert Murdoch's India Adventure. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5305-598-1.
  23. ^ a b "బిగ్‌బాస్: రెండో వారం రేటింగ్ పగిలిపోయింది". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021.
  24. ^ "Jr NTR's Bigg Boss Telugu Tops TRP Charts Making Star Maa No. 1 Telugu TV Channel". International Business Times. 27 July 2017. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021.
  25. ^ "Bigg Boss Telugu TRP Ratings: Rana's No 1 Yaari Is Way Ahead Of NTR's TV Show". International Business Times. 31 August 2017. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021.
  26. ^ "Star Maa is 3rd highest viewed channel in the country". Indian Television dot com. 31 August 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021.
  27. ^ "Star Maa becomes no.3 GEC". Indian Television dot com. August 2019. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021.
  28. ^ "Bigg Boss Telugu S3 propels growth of Star Maa". Indian Television dot com. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021.
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