Tribune acquires What’s-ON
July 10, 2014
Tribune Digital Ventures, the technology and innovation arm of Tribune Company, has acquired What’s-ON, a television search and Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data provider for India and the Middle East. This move expands Tribune’s TV listings and video metadata footprint to more than 50 countries in 30+ languages, reaching more than 600 million TV subscribers.
What’s-ON provides EPG data and TV search products for 16 countries, including India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Today, What’s-ON delivers data for more than 1,600 TV channels and helps power more than 50 million set-top boxes through the region’s top cable and IPTV services. What’s-ON customers include some of the biggest TV networks, service providers and consumer electronics manufacturers, such as STAR TV, Discovery Networks, Hathway Cable, Qatar Telecom, Samsung and Sony.
“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.”