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Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The world’s top cricket players have gathered in India for the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Officially known as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, the event pits ten of the best cricket nations in the world against each other for a chance to hoist the official trophy of the One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Paramount Global has sold its 13% ownership stake in TV and streaming company Viacom18 to Reliance Industries for $517 million. Reliance was already the majority owner of Viacom18. The pact comes two weeks after Disney and Reliance Industries announced a blockbuster $8.5 billion deal merging their massive Indian TV and streaming businesses.

Paramount Global has sold its 13% equity interest in Viacom18 Media to Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries for the equivalent $517 million.

$10 billion Sony-ZEE merger plans and late February’s confirmation that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (which incorporates Viacom18 and streamer JioCinema) is to tie up most of Disney’s streaming and pay-TV businesses in an $8.5 billion deal, Indian media is set to gain a new market leader. For local and international operators in the world’s most populous nation, the consequences of those tectonic shifts extend across streaming, pay-TV, channels, advertising, sports and content.

Walt Disney Company and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries have merged their massive Indian TV and streaming businesses, ending months of speculation. As per the agreement, Reliance’s Viacom18 is merging with Disney’s Star India. The deal is estimated to be worth $8.5 billion on a ‘post-money basis,’ the companies said.

EXCLUSIVE: Ruchi Narain was obsessed with ABC‘s early 2010s drama Revenge — so much so that she spent years trying to land the rights to remake the Mike Kelley show in India.

Disney has taken another big step toward realigning its India strategy. The company has signed a non-binding term sheet with Reliance Industries that would see the two merge their Indian operations, the completion of which would create one of India’s biggest entertainment empires. The news was first reported by The Economic Times.

Bodhi Tree Systems co-founder and former Disney APAC chief Uday Shankar outlined how his new venture – along with Reliance’s JioCinema – are building an alternative to legacy media in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, on the first day of Media Partners Asia’s APOS conference in Bali, Indonesia. 

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian studio Applause Entertainment and Zindagi, the Indian subcontinent-focused programming block on streamer ZEE5 Global, have set a wide-ranging content partnership. The partnership will create South Asian-themed content from across the subcontinent. The initial burst of productions will be in the Hindustani (combining Hindi and Urdu) language that is understood across the subcontinent.

India Amarteifio is all everyone is talking about after the debut of Queen Charlotte on Netflix.

Currently riding high on the success of Netflix series Rana Naidu, Indian production outfit Locomotive Global is building out its slate through a string of deals with companies including All3Media and Endemol Shine India.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief In cricket-mad India the upcoming Indian Premier League tournament could be a watershed for the country’s jostling media empires, according to Singapore-based consultancy and analysis firm, Media Partners Asia. Video rights for the tournament were split between incumbent pay-TV player Disney Star India, which paid close to $3.1 billion for broadcast rights to the five 2023-2027 editions, and Viacom18, which is backed by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Paramount (as a minority stakeholder), in partnership with financier Bodhi Tree Systems. It paid a similar sum for the separate digital rights. Media Partners Asia estimates that advertising revenues spawned by the two-month 2023 competition will end up around $550 million – representing a clear loss on the annualized cost of $1.2 billion, or roughly $600 million per conglomerate, for the tournament rights. (The analysis firm forecasts that RIL will earn $300-350 million in ad sales, while Star’s best-case scenario is $220 million.)

(Reuters) - Disney Star will broadcast International Cricket Council (ICC) events in India after bagging the digital rights to both men's and women's global competitions through to the end of 2027, the sport's governing body announced on Saturday. The ICC said in a statement https://www.

Disney today cut its Disney+ subscriber growth target to between 135 million and 165 million by the end of fiscal 2024 as it expects users in India to migrate after losing streaming rights to cricket, a huge draw in the region.

The e-auction’s over, and became clear yesterday, Viacom18 is the big winner of Indian Premier League cricket rights. The company bagged digital rights in India for 410 games over the next five years for $2.6B and today followed up with the international rights for three of the other big cricketing nations — Australia, South Africa and the UK — for around another $420M.

Viacom18 has bowled out the opposition and caught the sought-after streaming rights to the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.

Indian Premier League cricket tournament, one the world’s richest sporting events, have been sold for a combined $5 billion, according to several reports.The successful bidders have not been named as the auction, which started on Sunday is ongoing and may run to a third day.The TV rights went for $2.72 billion and the digital rights for $2.28 billion, for a five-year deal covering the 2023-2027 tournaments. In both cases the rights packages are limited to the Indian subcontinent.There are two more rights packages on offer – for selected tournament games including the playoffs, only for the Indian subcontinent; and TV and digital rights for the rest of the world.

James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, formerly CEO of Star India and president of Walt Disney Asia Pacific, have formed Bodhi Tree, a new outfit backed by the Qatar Investment Authority.

Naman Ramachandran James Murdoch and Uday Shankar have formed Bodhi Tree, an investment platform financially supported by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) designed to invest in media and consumer technology opportunities in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on India. Murdoch set up Lupa Systems as a private holding company in 2019 following his departure as CEO of 21st Century Fox, Sky plc, and Star. He subsequently quit as a director of News Corp.

Naman Ramachandran The high profile Indian Premier League has been indefinitely suspended after players and officials from several teams tested positive for COVID-19.

James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, the former CEO of Star India and president of Disney in Asia Pacific, said Thursday that they are partnering to form a new venture that will explore technology and media opportunities in emerging markets. Murdoch, who no longer holds a role in his family's media empire, is teaming up with Shankar via Lupa Systems, theNew York and Mumbai-based investment firm he established in 2019.

News Corp.'Even though I gave my everything in trying to resuscitate Dean with the use of CPR and a defibrillator, I wish there was somehow or someway to bring him back.' Hours after Jones' shock death, Lee courageously returned to television for Star India's coverage of the IPL.Jones would have normally appeared alongside him in the studio for their IPL pre-match segment 'Select Dugout'.  'I think the thing we want to say about Deano is he would have wanted us to be here tonight. It's pretty

Naman Ramachandran Uday Shankar will step down as president, The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and chairman, Star & Disney India, effective Dec. 31, 2020.