{"id":2044,"date":"2021-12-23T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ancstockinvestments.com\/blog\/?p=2044"},"modified":"2021-12-23T10:06:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T09:06:26","slug":"sony-bought-a-51-stake-in-zee-to-take-on-star-hotstar-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ancstockinvestments.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/23\/sony-bought-a-51-stake-in-zee-to-take-on-star-hotstar-netflix\/","title":{"rendered":"Sony Bought a 51% Stake in Zee to Take on Star, Hotstar, Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Two of India\u2019s largest\u00a0media companies are joining forces in a bid to dominate Indian entertainment, and take on global giants.<\/p>\n

Zee, India\u2019s largest listed television network, is selling a majority stake of 51% to Sony Pictures Networks India, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The two have \u201csigned definitive agreements\u201d to \u201ccombine their linear networks, digital assets, production operations, and program libraries,\u201d a Dec. 21 regulatory filing<\/a> (pdf) by Zee states.<\/p>\n

Zee\u2019s founders will be left with around 4%, and the rest will be owned by public shareholders. The new combined company will be publicly listed in India.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Nigeria Startup Bill Poised To Unlock Digital Potential<\/a><\/h5>\n

Zee and Sony are striving to beat Star on TV\u2026<\/h2>\n

There aren\u2019t many bigger domestic markets than India. More than 210 million<\/a> Indian households have a TV\u2014and Zee and Sony want as many of those eyeballs as possible.<\/p>\n

Sony will have a\u00a0<\/strong>cash balance of $1.5 billion \u201cto enable the combined company to drive sharper content creation across platforms, strengthen its footprint in the rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, bid for media rights in the fast-growing sports landscape, and pursue other growth opportunities,\u201d the company says<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The combined Sony-Zee behemoth will house 75 news, entertainment, sports, and movie channels, and rake in revenues upwards of $1.8 billion<\/a>\u00a0annually. The large inventory will place the merged entity ahead of the current market leader, Disney-owned Star India, according to Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sum is larger than the parts here,\u201d Utkarsh Sinha, managing director at Mumbai-based media consultancy Bexley Advisors, told Bloomberg<\/a>, adding that, \u201cboth have large user bases, formidable content libraries, and deep moats in content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026and topple Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon in streaming<\/h2>\n

The companies\u2019 streaming<\/a> services\u2014ZEE5 and SonyLIV<\/a>\u2014will get more firepower to take on global giants like Netflix, Hotstar, and Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n

Sony brings sports<\/a> into the mix, including cricket,\u00a0soccer, tennis,\u00a0MMA, and pro wrestling, while Zee5 has a robust slate of regional language content to offer. The latter will pour between 30% and 40% of its content investments into the regional space because they foresee more growth in it, Zee5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra told Business Today<\/a>..<\/p>\n

SonyLiv has also been working with Tata Consultancy Services<\/a> to fix the shoddy user experience on its clunky app, and it\u2019s considering jointly bidding<\/a> with Amazon Prime Video for rights to\u00a0the Indian Premier League (IPL)\u2014the cricket tournament that drew 18.6 million<\/a>\u00a0viewers to\u00a0Hotstar in 2019.<\/p>\n

The benefit of joining hands likely won\u2019t be immediate though, projections by analyst firm Ampere<\/a> show. Considering 40% of Zee5 and SonyLIV consumers have access to both services, \u201cmerging the two might even create a short-term decline (relative to the combined total of subscribers to each service),\u201d senior analyst Orina Zhao writes. \u201cHowever, in the longer term, the more comprehensive content offering should provide a solid base from which to further develop the service and compete with Disney+ Hotstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even then, topping Disney+ Hotstar\u2019s 46 million-strong paid subscriber base<\/a> is a\u00a0long way off.<\/p>\n

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