MAM
Ultimate Kho Kho on-boards Odisha govt to own fifth franchise
Mumbai: The Odisha government has acquired ownership of a team in the soon-to-be-launched professional league, which can be viewed as a major boost for the Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK).
It will be the Odisha government’s second direct sports endeavour; in 2013, it also owned a team—the Kalinga Lancers—in the Hockey India League. Days before the announcement, Odisha earned silver medals in the boys’ and girls’ Kho Kho competitions in the Khelo India Youth Games 2022.
The Odisha Sports Development and Promotion Company (OSDPC)-owned team will be the fifth franchise in the league. OSDPC is collaborating with leading steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) and will be working closely in Ultimate Kho Kho.
Sports and Youth Services minister Tusharkanti Behera said, “Kho Kho is very popular in many parts of Odisha. In the recent Khelo India Youth Games, our boys and girls played well and won the silver medals. Since it’s a traditional game, we have huge scope to develop it further in the state. Therefore, we have decided to participate in the Kho Kho league. This is part of our Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik’s vision for sports in Odisha.”
Ultimate Kho Kho CEO Tenzing Niyogi said, “Sports Odisha has been one of the key factors in the sporting revolution of India. Their focussed approach in developing a sport has been impressive. They have created an environment that has encouraged many corporate investments to create access for grassroots development and future champions. And now their association with Ultimate Kho Kho, is a great sign for the development of the sport.”
Four franchises were previously declared by Ultimate Kho Kho. While Capri Global and KLO Sports are the owners of the Rajasthan and Chennai teams, respectively, corporate giants ADANI Group and GMR Group secured the Gujarat and Telangana franchises.
With an exclusive multi-year contract, Ultimate Kho Kho has chosen Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) as its broadcast partner. The action from the league will be aired in English and other regional languages on Sony’s sports channels as well as on the OTT service SonyLIV.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
