Claim came as former failed to pay $1.4 bn within deadline
The dispute centres on an alliance agreement between Zee and Star India valued at $1.4 billion for the broadcasting rights for International Cricket Council (ICC) events
The newly merged Star India-Viacom18 will have over Rs 19,000 crore in cash reserves, enabling the company to invest in its digital and sports sectors, which may face short-term losses
On February 28, RIL and Disney finalised a deal to merge Star India and Viacom18, resulting in a new entity valued at Rs 70,352 crore, which includes a Rs 11,500 crore capital infusion from RIL
The merger comes at a time when a FICCI-EY report revealed that the Indian media and entertainment sector grew by 8 per cent in calendar 2023, reaching Rs 2.3 trillion
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries has sought approval from fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the USD 8.5-billion merger of Viacom18 and Star India Pvt Ltd (SIPL). "The proposed transaction aims to combine the entertainment businesses (along with certain other identified businesses) of Viacom18, part of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) group and SIPL, wholly-owned by The Walt Disney Company (TWDC). "As a result of the transaction, SIPL, currently a wholly-owned entity of TWDC through its subsidiaries, will become a joint venture (JV) which will be jointly held by RIL, Viacom18 and existing TWDC subsidiaries," a notice filed with the CCI said on Friday. The proposed transaction will not cause any appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, RIL said in the notice. However, to facilitate the CCI's assessment, they have identified several key markets where horizontal overlaps were significant such as licensing of audio visual conten
Star India has sought "specific performance" of the agreement or the payment of damages, Zee said in a statement, without providing details
The merger of the Indian media business of Walt Disney with Reliance Industries' Viacom18 will create a "significant dominant player", which might reduce the bargaining power for media buying agencies, the country's advertising industry has said. The Rs 70,000-crore behemoth, created post-merger may enable it to exert greater control over pricing and inventory of media rights and also influence over content, advertising industry leaders said. According to the experts, the merged entity will almost have a monopoly in sports properties as it will collectively control 75-80 per cent of the Indian sports market, in both linear TV and digital platforms and may uptick the rates. The joint venture, which is expected to receive approvals by the first quarter of 2025, will have over 70 channels from Star India and 38 TV channels from Viacom18 in eight languages, along with two large OTT platforms -- Jio Cinema and Hotstar -- and two film studios owned by each of them. "The Star-Viacom merge
The impairment charges stem from the merger agreement between Walt Disney and RIL aimed at creating an $8.5-billion media entity by combining Star India and Viacom18
Star also accused Zee of violating the ICC TV rights agreement by failing to make the first instalment payment of $203.5 million
Broadcast major Star India's consolidated net profit declined 30.62 per cent to Rs 1,272.15 crore in the financial year ended on March 31, 2023, showed data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler. However, its revenue from operation in FY23 increased by 6.15 per cent to Rs 19,856.86 crore. In the preceding financial year (FY22), Star India's net profit was at Rs 1,833.81 crore and its revenue from operation was at Rs 18,704.66 crore. The total income of Star India, which is owned by US-based global media major Walt Disney Company, was at Rs 20,698.64 crore in FY23, up 8.6 per cent year on year. Its total income was Rs 19,058.04 crore in FY22. In FY23, Star India's total expenses were at Rs 18,759.31 crore, up 16.29 per cent year on year. Star India is in the business of broadcasting, soliciting advertisements, marketing and distribution of non-news and current affairs TV channels, as well as in producing and distributing movies. The company is a leading media & ...
With the acquisition of Star India in 2019, Disney became India's biggest television broadcaster. But now it is looking for strategic options for the biz
The BCCI has decided to "waive off" one match from its media rights agreement (MRA) with Star India, amounting to Rs 78.90 crore. The MRA for the 2018-2023 cycle which ended on March 31 had an "indicative schedule" of 102 games at a value of Rs 6138.1 crore but the BCCI ended up organising 103 matches in the five-year cycle. "It has been resolved to waive off (one) match from the scope of Star India Private Limited under the BCCI-Star Media Rights Agreement dated 5th April 2018 for BCCI International and Domestic Matches. The total number of matches during the rights period has now been reduced from 103 to 102," read a BCCI note. However, sources close to Star India say as per the MRA signed in 2018, the board was expected to organise 102 matches, so the scenario of waiving off one match fee should not arise. "The MRA had 102 games and Star will pay for those matches. I don't see an issue here," a source told PTI on Monday. Star had bid different amounts per game for different yea
Star, Sony, Zee go off cable platforms over NTO 3.0 pricing
Ajit Varghese, Disney Star's head of network ad sales said that the network wants to help advertisers achieve their business objectives without having to worry about budget constraints
India's home season media rights holder Star India has asked the BCCI for a Rs 130 crore discount in the existing deal while jersey sponsor BYJU's, which is on its way out, wants the board to encash bank guarantee worth an estimated Rs 140 crore to honour the current agreement. The BCCI top brass deliberated on the two subjects for more than an hour in the emergent meeting of the Apex Council on Monday. It was a virtual meeting. In November, BYJU's had communicated to the BCCI that it wants to exit as the jersey sponsor of the Indian cricket team but the board asked the ed-tech company to continue until at least March 2023. However, in June, BYJU's had extended its jersey sponsorship agreement with the BCCI until November 2023 for an estimated USD 35 million. While an approximately Rs 140 crore will be paid to the BCCI through bank guarantee, the remaining, around Rs 160 crore, will be paid via installments. "Only BYJU's and Star India issues were discussed in the meeting but that
Viacom18 has bagged the rights for Rs 20,500 crore, while Disney-Star had retained the television rights for Rs 23,575 crore
Broadcasters Disney-Star, Sony, Zee and Viacom18 have submitted their bids, it is reliably learnt, after protesting about the lack of transparency in a closed-loop exercise
Asia Cup is set to begin on Friday, August 27 with the first match to be played between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka
The order came on a complaint filed by Asianet Digital Network (P) Ltd against Star India, Disney Broadcasting (India) Ltd and Asianet Star Communications Pvt Ltd