Disney to cut back on TV, sports biz in India

[KAR]

I don't know why you excited more about unconfirmed news about new streaming service, Disney itself not interested to share these news

Actually there are many ABC Shows which are not available in any streaming service in india so I'm kinda excited about that service also it's not a fake news i guess because they have used Disney+Hotstar branding in Indonesia which indicates a potential launch.

 

[KAR]

When Star was owned by Fox, Uday Shankar was free to move up with his decisions. The Murdoch gave tremendous support to Star India. That's why the network made bold and adventurous movements. IPL rights is one example. On the other hand it increased Star's expenses- In a long term view it may strengthen the network. When it comes to Disney, they are agressive about revenue and expenditure. After the merger eventually most of the Star executives was quit. Now that 'crazy Star team' not exists. Under Disney, Star's daily routine will go on. But it's unclear about Star's behaviour on bigger or costlier deals in future.

In short Disney wants to change Star Functions but it will work as per strategy?
Also if they stop the limit of cricket acquisition so i think it will definitely help star to gain rights of different sports tournaments.

 

[iDJ]

How risky would be to air regional sporting event on regional channels during special occasions like IPL? In other countries flagship channels air sports replacing regular programming on the day of sporting event.

 

[RdX]

Someone said that Star not interested in other sports events except Cricket and Kabaddi in this thread, here is the reason and Forbes India explained everything.

Barring cricket and also kabaddi that has seen tremendous traction, investments in the other sporting properties including football and badminton, will likely be reviewed, believes Khanna. A former executive concurs. “If you look at, say, the Formula 1: The cost per season is Rs 80 crore to Rs 90 crore, but we don’t make even Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore in advertising from it,” he says. Ditto with the English Premier League, which costs about Rs 200 crore per season and sees a mere fraction of that in ad revenues.
Behind the multiple exits at Star India

 

[praks001]

Someone said that Star not interested in other sports events except Cricket and Kabaddi in this thread, here is the reason and Forbes India explained everything.

Barring cricket and also kabaddi that has seen tremendous traction, investments in the other sporting properties including football and badminton, will likely be reviewed, believes Khanna. A former executive concurs. “If you look at, say, the Formula 1: The cost per season is Rs 80 crore to Rs 90 crore, but we don’t make even Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore in advertising from it,” he says. Ditto with the English Premier League, which costs about Rs 200 crore per season and sees a mere fraction of that in ad revenues.
Behind the multiple exits at Star India

I do not understand this logic. Sony is also broadcasting Serie A, Moto GP, UEFA Championships, ATP Events which are far less profitable than the properties that Star has. On top of that they have cricket rights for countries such as Zimbabwe & Sri Lanka which are only lucrative when India is involved. They have still managed to post positive results and the main reason for that is proper scheduling unllike Star which has reserved 8-10 channels just for the highlights of Cricket, Kabaddi & ISL. I have seen on many occasions that they do not use their non Select Channels for the premium sporting events in case of an overlap, only this IPL being an exception to that. If you have so many channels why not use them for good. A property can be monetized only if it is broadcasted. How is this so difficult to understand?

 

[praks001]

I think with the current strategy only ISL will survive out of all the domestic leagues by Star. PKL & PBL were already troubled with financial issues. UTT hardly grabs any eyeballs. This is what RC Venkateish has to say about these leagues-

"It is fair to say that apart from the IPL and the initial success of Pro Kabaddi, the rest of the pro-leagues in India haven’t delivered either impact or numbers. Hence, their future can be considered uncertain except for the ISL,” he said.

Will Uday Shankar's exit alter Star India's sports strategy?

 

[dino29]

I had already stated that this is likely to happen... Anyways it is good if Disney does not overspend on cricket but rather brings back ESPN with wholesome sports content. Also u can see hindi movie chs of star now have lot more diff content particularly old bollywood films. For English GEC or Movies they need to reinvent strategy to cater to untapped audience , old base which constitutes urban tech connected homes already shifted to OTT, there is huge audience still wanting to consume English content on tv as OTT or internet is either expensive or penetration is weak hence Disney can gain here.

Now another of my earlier stated anticipation is coming out true... Read this
Disney considering sale of Tata Sky stake: Report - Exchange4media

 

[dino29]

I do not understand this logic. Sony is also broadcasting Serie A, Moto GP, UEFA Championships, ATP Events which are far less profitable than the properties that Star has. On top of that they have cricket rights for countries such as Zimbabwe & Sri Lanka which are only lucrative when India is involved. They have still managed to post positive results and the main reason for that is proper scheduling unllike Star which has reserved 8-10 channels just for the highlights of Cricket, Kabaddi & ISL. I have seen on many occasions that they do not use their non Select Channels for the premium sporting events in case of an overlap, only this IPL being an exception to that. If you have so many channels why not use them for good. A property can be monetized only if it is broadcasted. How is this so difficult to understand?

Well bcoz sony is investing in diff sports which altogether may not come close to what disney/star is investing in cricket. So sony is able to provide lot more variety and manage decent return of investment, star/Disney has too much riding on cricket and has no option but to even bet on highlights to garner ad revenue. Either there needs to b rationalizing of pricing of cricket rights or each broadcaster has to balance as per what they invest in. Scheduling will happen accordingly, broadcasters have no issue in giving space to diff sports but economic viability is issue.... Subscription model would not work hence particularly difficult to manage tv broadcast or monetise rights of niche sports.
I feel IPL should go back to sony, star/disney should have domestic cricket, ICC cricket rights... Other cricket board rights can b acquired as per broadcasters strategy while some popular football, wwe, nba etc can b televised. For niche sports OTT should b platform as its audience can afford it and has presence there so acquiring digital rights will b the right way forward

 

[dino29]

I think with the current strategy only ISL will survive out of all the domestic leagues by Star. PKL & PBL were already troubled with financial issues. UTT hardly grabs any eyeballs. This is what RC Venkateish has to say about these leagues-

"It is fair to say that apart from the IPL and the initial success of Pro Kabaddi, the rest of the pro-leagues in India haven’t delivered either impact or numbers. Hence, their future can be considered uncertain except for the ISL,” he said.

Will Uday Shankar's exit alter Star India's sports strategy?

Comcast owns Sky not Disney... Article seems to have mentioned wrong info on this

 

[RdX]

I had already stated that this is likely to happen... Anyways it is good if Disney does not overspend on cricket but rather brings back ESPN with wholesome sports content. Also u can see hindi movie chs of star now have lot more diff content particularly old bollywood films. For English GEC or Movies they need to reinvent strategy to cater to untapped audience , old base which constitutes urban tech connected homes already shifted to OTT, there is huge audience still wanting to consume English content on tv as OTT or internet is either expensive or penetration is weak hence Disney can gain here.

Now another of my earlier stated anticipation is coming out true... Read this
Disney considering sale of Tata Sky stake: Report - Exchange4media

I think it's Good move from Disney, DTH or Cable business they can't manage even from other media company too, also Now it's time for Recovery of some loss happened in recent years