Media and entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney is likely to scale down
its television broadcasting, sports catalogue and film studio business
in India, said two people familiar with the development
The past week saw four top level executives of Star Sports in India
quit, including president and CEO Gautam Thakar, Ashok Namboodiri,
business head, regional sports network, Rajiv Mathrani, marketing head
and Rupali Fernandes, emerging sports.
While the cost of organizing the tournament has risen drastically,
there still aren't many avenues where cost-cutting can be done. The
future of ticketing and sponsorship also remains uncertain.
“Sports is going to be a slow burn, there will be no pay off at least
for the next 10-15 years. It will be a challenge to make even 8-10% of
what was being made annually earlier and Disney is not the kind to play
the valuation game without recovery,"
As I pointed out earlier, Disney is the new owner of Star Sports after Murdoch's 21st Century Fox sold it to them. Disney Group are astute businessman and are not known to throw money without substantial return. They are showing intention to restructure their sports business.
All is not hunky-dory behind the scenes.
Disney will surely be looking at viewership numbers, profit model of Indian Super League before taking a call !!!.
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