GECs
Star India in deal for Olympic Games coverage
MUMBAI: Star India has scored the rights to carry the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi and the 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio across seven South Asian countries.
The deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also covers the Summer Youth Olympic Games, taking place next year in Nanjing, China. Star India has the free to air, pay TV, Internet and mobile rights for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In 2012, the Olympics were broadcast in India on state broadcaster Doordarshan.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with Star India for the upcoming editions of the Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games,” said IOC president Jacques Rogge. “We are confident they will do a great job providing the best possible broadcast coverage of the Games, on a variety of platforms, to the largest possible audience in the seven different countries.”
IOC chairman finance commission Richard Carrión, said, “The Star India deal marked a shift in the organisation’s handling of broadcast rights in Asia. Traditionally the IOC has negotiated broadcast rights on a pan-Asian basis; however, the media landscape is changing and we have adapted our approach recently by negotiating directly in certain markets. We are very pleased to have reached this agreement directly with Star India.”
For the 2012 games, the IOC had a pan-Asian free-TV deal with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and a pay-TV deal with the now defunct ESPN Star Sports.
Star India head of sport business Nitin Kukreja added, “The Olympic Games remain the pinnacle of sporting achievement where the world’s best in various disciplines face off for the title of Olympic champion. Indian athletes have also performed admirably over the last few editions, which is evident in the medal-winning performances that we have come to admire. We value our partnership with the IOC and feel that this spectacular extravaganza can be taken to even greater heights in India on both television as well as on digital platforms.”??
Elsewhere in the region, deals for the 2014 and 2016 games were previously concluded with CCTV in China, SBS in Korea and a consortium of broadcasters in Japan.
GECs
EPIC Company unifies all brands under single EPIC identity
IN10 Media rebrand aligns TV, digital and films into one ecosystem
MUMBAI: The EPIC Company, formerly known as IN10 Media Network, has announced a sweeping brand consolidation, bringing its television channels, digital platforms and content IPs under a single identity, EPIC.
The move is aimed at simplifying the company’s structure while creating a more connected content ecosystem spanning television, digital and films. By aligning multiple verticals under one umbrella, the company is looking to present a sharper, more cohesive face to both audiences and partners.
As part of the transition, several channels have been rebranded to align with the EPIC identity. EPIC will now operate as EPIC TV, while Nazara becomes EPIC Bharat, Filamchi is now EPIC Bhojpuri, Gubbare transitions to EPIC Kids, and ShowBox is reintroduced as EPIC Music. Ishara will continue under the identity EPIC Parivaar, maintaining its core positioning.
The company has also refreshed EPICON, its streaming platform, to reflect a more unified and modern brand experience. The overhaul is designed to improve content discovery and create a seamless experience across platforms.
This consolidation follows the recent launch of EPIC Studio, a unified production arm that brings together Juggernaut Productions and MovieVerse Studio, as the company expands its footprint across films, OTT and television.
The EPIC Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “As our scale has grown, it has become important to simplify how we operate and how we present ourselves to the ecosystem. This consolidation gives us a clearer, more future-ready structure to partner, invest, and build at scale, while ensuring that for viewers, the experience is more seamless and intuitive.”
With the rebrand, The EPIC Company is positioning itself as a platform-agnostic content network, focused on scale, simplicity and integrated storytelling. By bringing everything under one banner, it is aiming to make its content universe easier to navigate and harder to ignore.
