In a recent advertisement, Sachin Tendulkar urges the audience to watch the Indian Premier League “only on” JioCinema. Clearly, when the ad was commissioned, the brief was to draw the audience away from Star Sports, which also will telecast the IPL starting on March 22. After the new turn of events, however, it seems neither Tendulkar nor JioCinema would mind people watching on either platform.
When the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sold the IPL broadcasting rights for the 2023-27 cycle, the rights for digital platforms and television were split into two packages. Star Sports, controlled by Disney, retained the television rights paying 23,575 crore and Viacom18 (JioCinema’s parent, owned by Reliance Industries Ltd) bagged the digital rights for 20,500 crore. And the two engaged in an advertising war. JioCinema got cricketers M.S. Dhoni and Suryakumar Yadav encouraging fans to watch the matches live from anywhere. Star Sports roped in Virat Kohli to emphasise the experience of watching it on television screens. JioCinema stumped everyone by streaming IPL for free.
The rivalry, however, has become a thing of the past, as Viacom18 and Disney are joining hands to create a 70,000-crore media giant. The media undertaking of Viacom18 will be merged into Star India Private Limited through a court-approved scheme of arrangement. Reliance will invest 11,500 crore in the joint venture in which Viacom18 will hold 46.82 per cent, Disney 36.84 per cent and Reliance 16.34 per cent.
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Pressure Points
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).
