Star India has ended its sub-licensing agreement with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) for the $1.5 billion ICC TV rights, as announced by the PunitGoenka-led company to the BSE on Wednesday. Earlier this year, in March, Disney-owned Star India had already initiated arbitration proceedings against ZEEL, seeking damages for failing to adhere to the terms of their alliance agreement dated August 26, 2022.
In a recent regulatory filing, ZEEL revealed that Star India notified them on June 20 about terminating their agreement and stated that it would only seek damages in the ongoing arbitration proceedings, which have not yet been specified by Star. ZEEL also reported an accrual of Rs 7,214 lakh for bank guarantee commissions and interest expenses related to their share of the bank guarantee and the pending ICC approval for sub-licensing.
The Walt Disney Company-owned Star India had sub-licensed the ICC Men’s tournament TV rights to ZEEL for the 2024-27 cycle. Had the agreement been executed, it would have enabled ZEEL to broadcast major ICC events such as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cups and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
On March 14, 2024, Star India initiated arbitration proceedings against ZEEL, seeking damages for alleged non-compliance with the terms of the alliance agreement dated August 26, 2022. Previously, ZEEL had requested a Rs 69 crore refund from Star India due to the failure of the TV rights deal, as noted in ZEEL’s Q3 financial statements. ZEEL also claimed that it cannot continue with the ICC TV rights agreement due to alleged breaches by Star India.
The agreement, established on August 26, 2022, outlined the basis for Star granting ZEEL exclusive sub-licensing rights for the ICC’s Men’s and Under-19 (U-19) global events for the 2024-2027 period.
