Zee to acquire 50 pc stake in Ten Sports for 2.56 bn

Zee Telefilms, which owns the sports channel Zee Sports, announced acquisition of 50 per cent stake in Dubai-based Ten Sports for Rs 256.5 crore as part of efforts to cement its position in sports broadcasting business.

"This is a great strategic move for the company that reinstates the company's seriousness and belief in the genre of sports broadcasting," the company said.

Terming Ten Sports as a leading channel in India with the highest viewership among sports channels, Zee said: "The investment is based on an enterprise value of 114 million dollars (about Rs 513 crore)."

"The acquisition is an important step from Zee towards consolidation in the media industry. We are confident that this will add significant value for the shareholders of Zee. The acquisition of a stake in Ten Sports not only gives us a strong foothold in the arena of sports broadcasting across Asia but also strengthens our operations in the Middle East," Subhash Chandra, chairman of Zee said.

Zee Group had entered the sports broadcasting arena about two years ago and has since been aggressively bidding for telecast rights of leading sports events, including broadcasting of Indian cricket.

Both Zee Sports and Ten Sports had last week bid for ICC's global telecast and marketing rights for an eight-year period commencing 2007.