We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
Assume Voot, JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar are merged into one entertainment app, and you have a streaming service with more than 233 million unique visitors. That is a reach just under half of India's largest streaming app: YouTube. 'This level of consolidation does not exist even in the US.'
Culver Max Entertainment, formerly known as Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), has terminated merger agreements with Zee Entertainment, which could have otherwise created a USD 10 billion media enterprise in the country.
RIL has completed Network 18s open offer after four months of acquiring the latter.
From Network18 perspective, this helps reduce dependence on ads and helps especially in times of slower GDP growth.
Disney Star India, bought at a valuation of $15 billion, could be on the block for roughly one-third that amount.
If the deal is indeed being considered, this will be the first time that Ambani will be putting his money in a print media venture since he and his younger brother, Anil Ambani, split businesses to form their own groups
The Network18 stock is down 4.2 per cent after the declaration of results to Rs 49.50 currently.
News, as a business, faces its biggest crisis ever, globally. To fight it needs investment in feet-on-the-ground journalism, tech tools like artificial intelligence among other things.
In terms of market capitalisation, Zee alone has a market cap of Rs 24,000 crore compared to Rs 15,000 crore of the merged Reliance entity.
'Advertising this season will help IPL surpass $550 million in ad revenues, across digital and pay TV.' 'It should still represent a steep loss against annualised 2023-2027 IPL rights fees of $1.2 billion.'
'We should become an all-encompassing entertainment and information destination," says chairman Subhash Chandra, who monitors the group on a monthly basis, leaving the day-to-day operations to the chief executive officers.
NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy on Friday said they will sell all but 5 per cent of their remaining shareholding in the news broadcaster to Adani Group for up to Rs 647.6 crore. Roys, who founded New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) as India's first and largest private producer of news current affairs and entertainment television, lost their status of being the company's largest shareholder in recent weeks. This follows Adani Group becoming the majority shareholding of NDTV after first buying out a company backed by the founders and then acquiring more shares from the open market.
NDTV operates news channels, including NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India.
In its bid to grab eyeballs in the regional space, Big Magic rebrands channel, sets up production unit in Patna
In the biggest ever deal in the Indian media sector, RIL will acquire control in Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd, including its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd.
"Independence means if government has done something wrong, you say it's wrong. But at the same time, you should have courage when the government is doing the right thing every day. You have to also say that," he Gautam Adani was quoted as saying by FT.
The Indian market is more in sync with mobile markets of advanced countries like the UK, Japan, and South Korea, where there are fewer players - three to four.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has pegged the base price for the combined IPL media rights at Rs 32,890 crore, nearly double the Rs 16,347 that Star Disney paid five years ago. Experts say that at these levels, there does not seem to be any profit-and-loss logic at play. It is more about what premium broadcasting companies are ready to spend for market share dominance. They point out that due to competition, they expect the final price to hit Rs 40,000-50,000 crore.
Star India successfully bagged the global media rights for the next five seasons of Indian Premier League -- including broadcast and digital -- for a massive Rs. 16,347.50 crores ($2.55 billion), in Mumbai, on Monday.
Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani has turned a venture capitalist and is backing a new television channel Epic TV due to go on air next month.
Its trajectory in telecom is well known but now it is pushing for a similar leap into the ranks of the top players in its other businesses: media and entertainment, e-commerce, a series of online businesses ranging from health to education, and retail.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Feedback from telecom members indicated a 10 per cent increase in traffic, but no fears of choked networks. Telcos currently use 65-70 per cent of the network capacity. In other words, they have enough additional capacity to handle the new pressure without clogging the system.
Puneet Goenka's ability to stay calm is probably what helped Zee rise from a down-in-the-dumps broadcaster into one of the largest, steadiest and most profitable media companies in India, reports Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Jio will woo consumers with new products as well as technology, offering them quadplay services - TV, data, voice and mobile - seamlessly working across the platforms, with a single bundled offer and just one bill.
While Reliance has the clout to negotiate prices with suppliers for its e-commerce, not to forget the cost advantage of integrated warehouse and supply chains, Amazon and Walmart are no pushovers, they too have deep pockets.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher, who was hearing a plea by Bollywood producers seeking to restrain them from making irresponsible remarks, listed the matter before the Joint registrar for January 18 for completion of pleadings and admission/denial of documents.
For existing customers, he announced that the current benefits will continue under a new tariff plan for another 12 months by payment of Rs 303 per month and a one-time joining fee of Rs 99.
The rights on offer are Indian Sub-continent Television Rights from 2018 to 2027 (10 IPL seasons), Indian sub-continent Digital Rights from 2018 to 2022 (5 IPL seasons) and Rest of the World Media Rights from 2018 to 2022 (5 IPL seasons).
Trai and telecom companies are divided in their views on the issue of raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in various media-related activities like cable television, direct-to-home, etc. Trai has proposed across-the-board increase in the FDI limit across cable (49 per cent), DTH (49 per cent), HITS (no existing limit) and satellite radio (no existing limit) to 74 per cent, as allowed in the telecom sector. Companies like Bharti Airtel are supporting this proposal
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Given the fragmented nature of the domestic cable TV market and the need for last-mile connectivity, RIL, said sources, would have to do more to achieve its target of reaching 20 million homes and 15 million business establishments with its broadband services across 1,600 towns in the next few years.
Hails country's recent digital highways and predicted India to become digital content capital of world.
Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi is India's richest person.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
BofA-ML mandated to find buyer for 27.5% stake in media group's holding firm
The e-auction of television and digital rights, a first in cricket, was not concluded but the Indian board (BCCI) received a bid of 44.4 billion Indian rupees ($683 million) for consolidated global rights from an unidentified bidder.
Board of Control for Cricket in India's Chief Executive Officer Rahul Johri says the revenue generation from the upcoming Indian Premier League's media rights auction could be "historic".
Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano said the group had been looking for years at soccer in India and the Indian Super League (ISL), which is currently in its sixth season.
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