(16 August 2007 4:32 pm)

MUMBAI: Washington based video-on-demand service provider Tinsel Cinema has acquired desivision.tv for an undisclosed cash and stock transaction. The acquisition helps Tinsel Cinema obtain the desivision.tv brand, content and customer database.

According to an official release, Desivision.tv achieved more than one million unique monthly visitors to its service and it will be incorporated into TinselVision’s social network offerings.

Starting September, Tinsel Cinema will launch services as TinselVision - delivering Bollywood and South Asian television, film, sports and lifestyle content primarily targetted at South Asian communities in the US, UK and Canada.

The company is currently assembling its broadcast and entertainment advisory board and has added Cliff Holtz to its board of directors. Holtz is president of Nortel’s North America Enterprise Business Unit and has previously led the $5 billion business markets group at Qwest for four years before becoming a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP in 2005.

Tinsel's chairman and CEO Chase Weir said, "Holtz brings a truly impressive wealth of experience to TinselVision. He understands aggressive revenue growth, competitive pricing strategies, and effective advertising campaigns. Holtz's track record spans the whole of our costs of revenues structure, providing a distinct advantage to the company’s governance and oversight functions. We are very fortunate to have his contributions."

Holtz joins Shahid Khan and Saad Shervani. Khan is president of Innovative Entertainment and has served in capacities ranging from Minister of Finance to the government of Pakistan to Policy Advisor at the World Bank. Meanwhile Shervani, the youngest person ever appointed to India’s Supreme Court Bar, on the company’s board. He is also a co-founder and VP of content and legal for the company and runs Tinsel’s India operations in Mumbai.

Tinsel Vision has also formed its finance and operations board of advisors. Tina Ravitz has been appointed as chairperson for this group.

Ravitz has over 25 years of legal, strategic and corporate governance practice experience. She was earlier VP of technology and business operations at Viacom, heading a $100 million annual budget wherein she drove their expansion into Europe and Asia with MTV Asia and Nickelodeon Germany, amongst others. At Newsweek, she led the company’s multimillion dollar domestic and international law department. She holds degrees from Princeton, the London School of Economics and the University of Virginia (UVA).

Joining Ravitz on the advisory board are Amir Ahmed, Rich Hozik and Frank Mattson. Ahmed is senior advisor to the CEO, and chief strategic counsel on sales and marketing for the company. Hozik is senior financial advisor to Tinsel’s board of directors while Mattson is the company’s chief distribution advisor, involved closely in channel planning.