The merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) is on track and “in the final stages of stitching up”, disclosed Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, ZEE on Tuesday.
Delivering a keynote address at APOS India Summit, Goenka said 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 combined will be close to $2 billion, and the capital that Sony is going to infuse in the merged entity ($1.575 billion) will give us the opportunity to invest in premium content, including sports. We will be able to generate great value for our stakeholders,” he said.
ZEE had sold its sports business, housed under TEN Sports for around Rs 2,400 crore to SPN in 2017 and had signed a five year non-compete clause.
“The merged entity will focus on sports. We just finished non-compete on sports with Sony and it’s coming full circle,” he said. “The opportunity is great. The digital landscape has opened up new opportunities for monetisation, which did not exist five years ago. Certainly, sports will become an area of interest.”
However, he added that the decision for bidding for any rights will be taken by the board of the merged company, and not by him individually.
Accepting that ZEE has been late in embracing new technology, he said ZEE will catch up “very quickly” and give the global player a fight in this market.
He said that before the pandemic, no one thought 40-50 million people would pay for content.
“They may not be paying a great deal of money, but they are willing to pay. That number will exponentially grow. the Indian SVOD market will grow to 200 million in the next five years,” he said.
