MUMBAI: Close on the heels of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited managing director and CEO Punit Goenka declaring that Zee’s merger with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) is in the final stages, the Indian media major has made its first big play in international sports broadcasting post its sale of Ten Sports to Sony in 2017.
Zee will reportedly be the broadcast partner of the upcoming UAE T20 League, which is being mounted by the Emirates Cricket Board and will be fully approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
It was earlier reported by Times of India that the UAE T20 League has former IPL chief operating officer and later Reliance Sports CEO Sundar Raman running the show.
The league will have a unique business model where the franchises will invest on an annual basis and work on substantial returns through broadcast and sponsorships.
Pertinently, Rahul Johri, former BCCI CEO and earlier Discovery Networks Asia Pacific EVP and general manager for south Asia, has joined the group as its president South Asia business.
Coming back to Goenka, while while delivering his keynote address at the APOS India Summit last Tuesday, he had said: “I certainly believe that consolidation is going to benefit the industry overall. Zee and Sony will form the largest media entertainment player in the country. Our revenues on a standalone basis will be close to $2 billion, and the capital growth ($1.575bn) that Sony is going to infuse in the merged entity will really give us the opportunity to invest in premium content, including sports (emphasis ours).”
“We just finished non-compete on sports with Sony and it’s coming full circle,” he had noted.
“I believe that the opportunity is great, because the digital landscape has opened up a new opportunity for monetization, which did not exist five years ago,” said Goenka. “And the sector itself will see a lot more happening going forward. So certainly sports will become an area of focus for the merged entity.”
“But the decision for bidding or not bidding, and bidding at what value etc., will be taken by the board of the new merged company, and not by me individually,” Goenka had further said.
Clearly, the board of the “new merged company” has had no DIRECT role in Zee’s acquisition of the UAE T20 League media rights. And that is because the merger itself cannot happen before 2022. As an industry insider informed SportzPower, all the necessary regulatory clearances for the merger will likely take anywhere close to a year before the merger can be signed, sealed and delivered.
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