Star India announced their revenue report for the financial year that ended on March 31, 2024 (FY24) and the results are not good, to say the least. The Walt Disney-owned company reported a decline of 6.19% in operational revenue, down from INR 19,812.6 crores last year to INR 18,587.13 crores.
Advertising and subscription revenue also took a hit, down by 4% (INR 11,186.04 crores to INR 10,736.94 crores) and 1.3% (INR 7000.56 crores to INR 6909.67 crores), respectively. The situation looks much worse for content licensing and theatrical distribution, where a steep decline of 45.32% (INR 1228.59 crores to INR 671.81 crores) and 99.41% (INR 180.34 crores to INR 1.06 crores) was noted.
Furthermore, a standalone loss of INR 12, 548.32 crores was reported for FY24, a sharp reversal from a profitable FY23 with a profit of INR 1,465.08 crores. The company’s total expense also surged by 68% to INR 31,548.59 crores. Star India attributes these losses to their obligatory responsibility due to a contract with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Star India, said, “The company has estimated the contract with ICC to be onerous as the expected revenue from customers relating to this right as and when the related event is broadcasted/streamed is likely to be less than the cost involved in broadcasting and streaming these events and hence has estimated a loss from future events relating to these media rights to be INR 12,319.31 crores as of 31 March 2024.” The company further added that the judgements and estimates for the loss may vary due to the uncertainty involved with them.
Notably, Star India acquired ICC TV and its digital rights for an astounding $3 billion for four years till 2027. Later, Star India sub-licensed the TV rights to Zee Entertainment. However, the latter’s financial constraints eventually led them to decide not to proceed ahead with the deal after their attempts to merge with the Sony Group failed in January.
Following this, Star India launched arbitration proceedings against Zee Entertainment at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), seeking $940 million in damages. Zee Entertainment however refuted Star India’s claims, stating that the arbitration proceedings are still in their early stages and the LCIA had yet to determine Zee’s liability.