Zee Entertainment to acquire 9X Media

Media tycoon Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd has agreed acquire 9X Media Pvt. Ltd and its unit INX Music Pvt. Ltd for a total of Rs 160 crore in cash. Zee has signed a pact to buy 9X and INX Music from private equity firm Rivendell PE LLC, earlier known as New Silk Route, and other shareholders.

In a separate transaction, the media company will acquire the 26% stake it doesn’t already own in Zee Turner Ltd from joint venture partners Turner International India Pvt. Ltd for Rs 2.6 lakh. The joint venture was set up in 2001 to distribute Zee and Turner channels but stopped active operations a few years ago. Meanwhile, Zee said it will buy 100% of 9X Media for Rs 155.20 crore and spend Rs 4.80 crore to buy 29.15% of INX Music; 9X Media owns the remaining 70.85% of INX Music. The deal is likely to be concluded within two months.

Zee operates 33 channels while 9X Media runs five music channels—9XM, 9X Jalwa and 9X Bajao in Hindi, 9X Jhakkas in Marathi and 9XO in English—and INX broadcasts Punjabi channel 9X Tashan. The target company’s Bollywood news portal, SpotBoyE, will also be part of the transaction. 9X and INX Music posted consolidated loss Rs 5.1 crore in the year through March 2017 on total revenue of Rs 158.6 crore. This compares with a profit of Rs 11.7 crore on revenue of Rs 176.2 crore the year before.

9X Media, previously known as INX Media, was founded in 2007 by Indrani Mukerjea and housed the Hindi general entertainment channel 9X as well. In 2010, ZEEL bought the said Hindi GEC for Rs 64 crore. The same year, the company changed its name to 9X Media and focused its energies on growing its music portfolio.

Zee acquires UAE based Hum 106.2

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) which operates entertainment channels like Zee TV and Zee Cinema has announced its foray into radio broadcasting space with the acquisition of UAE based radio station “Hum 106.2”. ZEEL already operates satellite television channels like Zee Aflam and Zee Alwan in the UAE Market.

Hum 106.2, previously owned and operated by Shamal Media Services, is a UAE based Hindi FM Radio channel with a current market share of 26%. The frequency was one of the first Hindi and Urdu language frequencies in the UAE to hit airwaves in the 1990s. This move comes immediately after ZEEL forayed into film production and distribution in the UAE and Middle East markets.

Radio has been an area of interest for ZEE for quite some time and after extensive planning and studying of the brand values, ratings and revenue generated by various stations, HUM FM was the best option. Now, Zee can offer media across television, radio and digital platforms leading to a great synergy between content and mediums. More announcements are expected in the coming weeks on the future channel programming and its positioning.

Earlier this month, ZEEL entered the Hispanic market with the launch of its Spanish language Bollywood movie channel Zee Mundo on 13 September. ZEEL also sold its sports network TEN Sports to Sony Pictures Network (SPN) in all cash deal worth $385 Million on 1 September. For the quarter ended June 2016, ZEEL had reported a net profit of Rs 218.1 crore, a 21.4% increase from Rs 179.6 crore, in the year ago period.

Sony acquires Zee’s TEN Sports

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) announced the sale of its sports network TEN Sports to Sony Pictures Network (SPN) in all cash deal for $385 Million. TEN Sports portfolio includes TEN 1, TEN 1 HD, TEN 2, TEN 3, TEN Golf HD, TEN Cricket and TEN Sports. The network operates these channels across India, Maldives, Singapore, Hong Kong, Middle East, and Caribbean.

TEN Sports network is currently held by company’s two wholly owned subsidiaries – Taj Television Limited, Mauritius and Taj Television (India) Pvt. Limited. The acquisition of TEN Sports network will strengthen SPN offering for viewers of Cricket, football and fight sports, complementing portfolio of international and domestic sporting properties.

Sony current sports properties include Cricket (IPL, CPL, Ram Slam), Football (FIFA 2018 World Cup Russia, UEFA Euro 2016, FIFA World Events including FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 in India, European and South American Qualifiers for FIFA WC 2018, FIFA Confederations Cup, LaLiga, Serie A, FA Cup, Copa America Centenario, International Champions Cup), Tennis (Australian Open, ATP 1000 and 500 World Tour Events, Champions Tennis League), fight sports (TNA, UFC, Pro Wrestling League), Basketball (NBA) as well as NFL and Premier Futsal.

As for TEN Sports, the network holds broadcast rights to major cricket boards (South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe). TEN Sports has rights to wrestling (WWE), football (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, French League, English Football League Cup), Tennis (WTA Events, ATP Events), Golf (European Tour, Asian Tour, Ryder Cup, US PGA Championship, LGPA Tour, Professional Golf Tour of India and Golf Channel Block), Athletics (Asian Games, Commonwealth Games), Motor Sports (MotoGP) and Cycling (Tour de France) events.

Zee Entertainment acquire Sarthak TV

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, a leading media and entertainment company, has acquired Odisha based Sarthak Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the owners of ‘Sarthak TV’, a general entertainment channel at a consideration of Rs 115 crore. With this acquisition, Zee strengthens its regional offering with the objective of growing rapidly in Odisha. 

Sarthak TV airs highly a mix of reality and non-fiction shows besides fiction programming. The other regional channels from the ZEEL bouquet are Zee Marathi, Zee Talkies, Zee Bangla, Zee Bangla Cinema, Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada, and Zee Tamizh. Being the oldest and market leading network in India, ZEEL would provide the perfect platform for Sarthak to grow in future.

Mumbai based ZEE is one of the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programme, with extensive library housing more than 120,000 hours of original television content. Moreover, with rights to more than 3,500 more titles, ZEE houses the world largest Hindi movie library. Through its strong presence worldwide, ZEE reaches over more than 959 Million viewers across 169 countries.

The firm had consolidated revenues of Rs 1,339.9 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, recording a growth of 23 percent compared with the same quarter last year. Its net profit jumped to Rs 242.3 crore, up 15 percent from Rs 210 crore at the same time in the corresponding year.