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Star India seeks 2002 Grammy Awards sponsors
MUMBAI:The Grammy Awards are back. And they will be airing once again on the Star Network’s English language channel, Star World, and music service Channel [v] come 28 February, 6:30 am-9:30 am. Star India is looking for partners for what is being pegged as the world’s biggest music awards show. On offer are four associate sponsorships for Star World for Rs 1.5 million a piece while the presenting sponsor will have to shell out Rs 2.5 million. The Channel [V] deal relates to three associate sponsorships (Rs 1.74 million each) and a single presenting sponsor (Rs 2.49 million).
The 44th edition of the annual awards features 28 musical genres, ranging from pop and gospel to reggae to polka.This year’s new category entrant is Best Rap-Sung Collaboration taking the total number of awards to be handed out to 101.
Attendees will include the biggest bands in the world like U2 and Aerosmith, the man himself, Bob Dylan and current favourites like Nelly Furtado, Janet Jackson, ‘Nsync and Alicia Keyes. Among the frontrunners for the awards this year include U2 (eight nominations, including album of the year), India Arie (seven nominations), Alicia Keys (six nominations), Pierre Boulez (six nominations), Alison Krauss, Brian McKnight and Outkast (each with five nominations), and T Bone Burnett, Nelly Furtado, Train, Steven Tyler and Lucinda Williams (four nominations each).
The show will have repeats on the same day at 5:30 pm and on Sunday 3 March at – 11:30am on Star World while the repeats on Channel [V] will be on 1 March at 11 pm and Saturday 2 March at 5 pm.
The pitch that the Star Network is making to advertisers: “Associate your brand with the music industry’s biggest and most respected awards show and Target up-market English speaking viewers across India.”
Will advertisers bite?
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Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
