1 April 2015: US$400mStar India's US$400-million acquisition of the four-channel Maa Television Network ramps up the fight for audiences in India's South, consolidating rivalry in the region to the country's big three programmers - Star, Zee and Viacom18. The deal also focuses attention on market leader Sun TV, which insiders say needs to align with a larger player to stay relevant. Sony could be a contender. Maa TV dominates the Telugu-speaking Andhra Pradesh state with a topline estimated at over US$50 million and an operating profit of US$17 million. Star India CEO, Uday Shankar, says "getting into Andhra Pradesh is part of our unfinished agenda". Maa channels bring Star India's channel tally to 44.65%Malaysia's air and natural disasters last year had a dramatic impact on the country's TV ad revenues. Dominant free-TV player Media Prima said "tragic airlines incidents" and "the worst flood the country had seen in many years" were among the factors that resulted in "advertisers being more cautious over advertisements placed". Media Prima's profits last year were down 65% to RM77 million/US$22 million. The dominant free-TV broadcaster is also presenting a bleak outlook for 2015, pointing to "lower anticipated GDP growth, prevailing low oil prices and the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the year".10xFox International Channels' (FIC) return of The Walking Dead beat previous seasons across four markets in Asia with ratings as high as 10 times up on past records. FIC said ratings for the second part of season five in the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea were significantly up on season four. In Korea, the season five part two premiere achieved 10 times the ratings of the season four part two premiere in 2014 among audiences aged 18-49 with pay TV, according to Nielsen Korea data provided by FIC. The second part of season five premiered on Fox channel's prime time on 9 February, within 24 hours of the U.S.$4.50The monthly subscription for Singtel/Globe Telecom's new OTT player, Hooq, in the Philippines. Pricing for other Hooqs around the region - including India and Indonesia - has not been confirmed, but is likely to be about US$3.US$383mChina's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has acquired a RMB2.4 billion/US$383 million stake in mainland production company Beijing Enlight Media. The acquisition follows Alibaba's US$3-billion bet on ChinaVision, Youku Tudou and production giant Huayi Brothers. Beijing Enlight is best known for box office hit Lost in Thailand (2013).US$12.4bAsia Pacific online video revenue will hit US$12.4 billion by 2020, according to a new report from Media Partners Asia (MPA). The Asia Pacific OnlineVideo Distribution 2015 report indicates that the total market for online video services across 13 countries in Asia Pacific will grow from US$3.5 billion in net revenues in 2014, representing an average annual growth of 23.5%. But it's early days for the legal consumption of OTT services in Asia Pacific, and monetisation models are "nascent" in most countries, says MPA executive director Vivek Couto.US$28b... the value of mobile phone handset sales in China in the fourth quarter of 2014. The US$28 billion represents a 21% increase year on year, which research company GfK says is the highest ever quarterly figure. Unit sales are, however, flat, although GfK says China will remain the biggest market in terms of both unit and value sales in the foreseeable future.ContentAsia Issue 1, 2015