MAM
Western Union signs contract with ESS to sponsor 2 PHL teams
MUMBAI: Western Union Financial Services Inc. today announced a three year contract with ESPN Star Sports to sponsor two Premier Hockey League (PHL) teams of Sher-e-Jalandhar and Chandigarh Dynamos.
The month long PHL kick started on 13 January at the Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad and has two tiers having five teams each in the first year.
Tier I is called the Premier Division and Tier II being called the First Division. Sher-e-Jallandhar is currently leading in the Premier Division with eight points, while Chandigarh Dynamos are at the top of the First Division unbeaten throughout its five matches with 15 points.
Western Union regional marketing manager (South Asia) Rajiv Garodia said, “Firstly I would like to wish all participants in this league all the very best. It is extremely popular in Punjab and the large number of players from Punjab in the Indian national team bears testimony to this. Through this sponsorship of the Punjab hockey teams, “Western Union Sher-e-Jalandhar” and “Western Union Chandigarh Dynamos” we endeavor to create awareness and encourage the game among the Indians all over the country and lift the profile of the Punjabis in the game to even greater heights.”
ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd director corporate communications and event management group Himanshu Verma said, “PHL has started on a very exciting note. The hockey being showcased is of the highest level. All foreign players have jelled extremely well with their respective teams and the high scoring exciting matches are bound to attract more crowds to PHL as we go along. Judging from the first year’s response, we are confident that the PHL will become the most awaited event in India’s sports calendar.”
“We welcome Western Union as teams’ sponsor on PHL. Both Shers and Dynamos have been performing very well. By coming on as a sponsor early on, Western Union will hugely benefit from the brand equity created by the two teams. And Western Union’s joint marketing initiatives will certainly help in growing both, the popularity of the teams and the game of hockey,” Verma added.
Sher-e-Jallandhar captain Gagan Ajit Singh said, “I am absolutely delighted on the sponsorship and thank Western Union on behalf of my team for coming forward in helping the game. We play with complete commitment and for the love of the game. If companies come forward and support the game in terms of sponsorship, it works as additional encouragement. Games attracting sponsorship also symbolizes growing popularity for the game and helps a lot in attracting fresh talent to the sport.”
Western Union will also be launching a nation wide marketing campaign to promote the two teams. This will be a multimedia campaign comprising press, television and merchandising. There will be special focus on Punjab where Western Union is present across 2500 locations in over 240 towns.
“It evokes a feeling of belonging and it is indeed a great honor for Western Union to be associated with Punjabi hockey for the first time ever. We are happy and proud to be a connected with Punjab on one more level, through our national game,” added Garodia.
PHL is a result of over three years of hard labour put in by the IHF, ESPN STAR Sports and Leisure Sports Management (LSM). ESPN STAR Sports has been entrusted with the key role of marketing, producing and broadcasting PHL for the next ten years.
PHL will offer total prize money of Rs 7.1 million. The winner of the Tier I will take home Rs 3 million, while the runners up will carry Rs 1 million. The winner of Tier II will get Rs 400,000 while the runner up will receive Rs 250,000.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
