What explains the spate of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in media? According to the FICCI-EY annual report, the industry saw 118 M&A deals valued at Rs 67,200 crore in 2021. That is a huge jump from 77 deals worth Rs 6,800 crore in 2020 and 64 deals, valued at Rs 10,100 crore, in 2019. About half of these, by value and volume, were in broadcasting and almost a third in gaming.
Of these the biggest, arguably, was the December 2021 merger of Sony and Zee into a Rs 14,000-crore behemoth. It creates India’s second largest media company after Disney-Star.
This year has seen two big ones so far. At the end of March 2022, India’s largest multiplex chain PVR merged
