Star Sues ZEE for $940 Million

19 Sep 2024 , 12:59 PM

Star India, which is controlled by Walt Disney, has demanded $940 million in damages from Zee Entertainment Enterprises for failing to respect the $1.5 billion International Cricket Council (ICC) TV rights deal, according to a regulatory filing.

In a regulatory filing, Zee contested Star’s assertions, which calculated the damages in its Statement of Case before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) Arbitral Tribunal on September 16.

While refuting the Star’s assertions, Zee stated that the arbitration is still in its early stages, and the LCIA Arbitral Tribunal has yet to determine whether the corporation is culpable in any way.

“The company will, on merits, strongly contest all unfounded claims by Star and reserves all its rights,” Zee stated in its trademark petition.

Star is in the process of merging with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)-owned Viacom18 to form India’s largest media and entertainment firm, valued at $8.5 billion.

Once the merger is completed, the proposed merged firm, which will be owned by RIL, is expected to take the matter to LCIA. The National Company Law Tribunal and India’s Competition Commission have previously approved the merger.

Liabilities related to the ICC TV transaction were one of the primary causes for Star’s valuation decline to $3 billion. Despite being the larger of the two corporations, Star was valued less than Viacom18, which had a valuation of $4 billion.

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