Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd has refuted all claims by Star India Private Limited, including the $940 million (nearly Rs 8,000 crore) the Disney-owned is seeking in damages, after a ‘Statement of Case’ was filed before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), in which it declared termination of the alliance agreement.
“The company categorically refutes all claims and assertions made by Star, including its claims for damages. The arbitration is at its initial stage and the LCIA Arbitral Tribunal is yet to determine if the company is liable in any manner,” ZEE has stated.
ZEE said it will ‘strongly contest’ all claims by Star, calling them ‘unfounded’.
The 2022 Alliance Agreement between ZEE and Star India was for a sub-license of TV broadcasting rights of ICC Men’s and Under-19 international matches between 2024-2027.
Earlier this year, ZEE had alleged that Star India has not acted in accordance with the alliance agreement over sharing of TV broadcast rights of ICC cricket matches, and sought a refund. ZEE said that Star India breached the agreement and had sought a repayment of Rs 685.4m (about $8m), according to its December-quarter earnings report.
Moneycontrol had reported in February that Star India had sent letters to ZEE alleging breach of agreement over non-payment of rights fee aggregating to $203.56m (Rs 1,693.42cr). ZEE on its part made a counter claim that Star had failed to obtain necessary approvals, breached the Alliance Agreement and defaulted of the terms, resulting in the repudiation of the contract.
Analysts had pointed out that the broadcast deal could result in annual losses of Rs 1,520cr in FY25 for ZEE due to high content cost, lower sports ad revenue and availability of free cricket content on streaming platform.
LCIA is a private, not-for-profit organization that has the stated aime to resolve commercial disputes through arbitration and other proceedings.
Last month, ZEE and Sony settled all claims after their $10 billion merger failed, while the $8.5 billion-merger of Reliance and Disney’s Indian media assets got approvals paving the way to create an entertainment behemoth.
