Tribune Digital Ventures acquires EPG data leader

Tribune Digital Ventures has acquired What’s-ON, a TV search and EPG data provider for India and the Middle East for approximately US$27 million (€20 million).

According to Tribune, the move expands its TV listings and video metadata footprint to more than 50 countries in over 30 languages, reaching more than 600 million TV subscribers.

What’s-ON provides EPG data and TV search products for countries including India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia, Kenya and Sri Lanka. The company delivers data for more than 1,600 TV channels and helps power more than 50 million set-top boxes through the region’s cable and IPTV services, according to Tribune. What’s-ON customers include Star TV, Discovery Networks, Hathway Cable, Qatar Telecom, Samsung and Sony.

What’s-ON will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Mumbai. The What’s-ON acquisition follows Tribune’s acquisition earlier this year of music and video metadata leader Gracenote.

“The acquisition of What’s-ON fits within our broader strategy of diversifying revenue and scaling our metadata business to meet increasing client demand,” said Peter Liguori, CEO of Tribune Company.

“The strategic investments we made over the last year expand Tribune’s presence internationally and enable us to offer a trusted solution to cable, Internet and consumer electronics clients globally. I’m pleased that with What’s-ON we will have a new presence in markets with significant opportunity. Atul Phadnis, founder and CEO of What’s On and his team will work together with Rich Cusick and Tribune’s existing TV metadata team to grow this area of our business.”