Star India has initiated arbitration proceedings against Zee Entertainment for failing to honour the $1.4 billion cricket rights deal. The two companies signed the deal in August 2022.
"We hereby inform you that, on March 14, 2024, Star India Private Limited ('Star') has initiated arbitration proceedings against the Company, under the alliance agreement dated August 26, 2022 entered between Star and the company, by filing a request for arbitration," Zee Ent has said in an exchange filing.
Star India has asked the company to pay for damages for non-compliance with the terms of the alliance agreement dated August 26, 2022.
Earlier, Zee had demanded Rs 69 crore in refund from Star after the TV rights deal for ICC failed. The refund is part of the agreement between the two, according to Zee in its Q3 financial statements.
ZEEL has said that it has communicated to Star India Pvt Ltd that it cannot proceed with the ICC TV rights agreement alleging that Star has breached the agreement and is in default of the terms.
On 26 August 2022, ZEEL entered into an agreement with Star for setting out the basis on which Star would be willing to grant sub-licence rights in relation to television broadcasting rights of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Men's and Under 19 (U-19) global events for a period of four years (ICC 2024-2027) on an exclusive basis, the Punit Goenka-led company said.