New Delhi: India's Zee Entertainment has conveyed to Walt Disney it does not intend to move forward with a deal to pay around $1.4 billion for cricket TV rights it acquired from the US firm, two people with direct knowledge said.
Zee in August told Indian stock exchanges it had signed a strategic licence agreement with Disney to take over certain International Cricket Council TV broadcast rights for four years starting 2024 from the US firm, which continued to retain streaming rights.
"The deal is off ... Zee said they are not in a position to pay," one of the sources said. "Zee completely reneged on the rights."
Zee did not respond to requests for comment, while Disney declined to comment.
The Indian company was to pay for the rights over time but it missed the first $200 million payment to Disney in recent weeks and told the U.S. company it was walking back on the deal, the two sources said on condition of anonymity.
The collapse of Zee's planned merger with Sony's , opens new tab Indian business this week also put paid to Zee's TV rights deal with Disney, the sources said.
Zee faces mounting troubles, with the Sony merger collapse heaping pressure on one of India's most popular TV networks to pursue deals with new partners or focus on areas such as digital entertainment to revive its fortunes, analysts and industry sources say.
