Update & Corrigendum: Saregama has informed that it distributes content directly across the operators and doesn't have an exclusive tie-up with Techzone. Times Music also informs us that it doesn't have an exclusive contract with Techzone. Techzone has informed us that it no longer has exclusive content deals with Venus, Sony Music, MTV, VH1, Colors and India TV. The company had exclusive deals as of October last year. Update: Probir Roy, co-founder of mobile payments company Paymate, reminds us that Coruscant Tec, a company that he co-founded, was bought by Mukta Arts in 2008. That was the first instance of a content owner buying a MVAS company. It's been a while. Earlier: This is probably the first instance where a content owner is acquiring a content aggregator in the country: Eros International Plc has announced that it has signed a term sheet to acquire a controlling stake in the mobile value added service provider Techzone (Universal Power Systems Private Limited) for an undisclosed amount. While the terms of acquisition were not disclosed, Eros CEO and Managing director Jyoti Deshpande says that Techzone's billing integration and distribution across major telecom operators will complement its existing online movie streaming service ErosNow. Techzone currently delivers content through caller ring-back tones (CRBT), mobile radio, short message service (SMS), wireless application protocol (WAP) and interactive voice response (IVR). It also owns a mobile shortcode 56060. Conflict of Interest? What's not clear right now is what will happen to other content partners of Techzone post this acquisition. Would they now be open to provide the…
