iWorld
Hotstar to stream Emmy Awards in India on 18 Sept
MUMBAI: It is bringing the world to India and taking India to the globe!
Ahead of its launch in a “few international markets in the next couple of months” Hotstar, ranked number one by App Annie in terms of MAUs, is also bringing the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards to Indian viewers. live. This is even as the research firm KalaGato reported 73 per cent jump in Hotstar’s market share, that is expected to spurt with the addition of Emmys, CBS, and GoT.
For Hotstar, which has over 100,000 hours of drama and movies in nine languages, and covers every major global sporting event, the Emmy countdown has now begun. As the excitement builds up, viewers of the India’s leading video-on-demand service will be able to tune in to the awards simulcast on 18 September, at 530 am on 18 September 2017 from 8 pm onwards. Thereafter, the ceremony will be available in the Hotstar library from Tuesday, 19 September.
Indiantelevision.com spoke to the Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan on Friday evening, but he sought queries on email, which have been sent.
With a whopping 149 nominations across 23 shows that it has licensed from American studios, Hotstar is the home of the Emmys and will be the only digital platform in the country to telecast simulcast the event. Viewers will have the opportunity to watch the much-anticipated ceremony along with the rest of the world, from wherever they are. This year, the event will be hosted by Stephen Colbert, previous Emmy Award winner and host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
From the Hotstar library, acclaimed shows like Westworld, Feud, Veep and Big Little Lies lead the extensive list with the most number of nominations. Other favourites include Night Of, This is Us, Silicon Valley, The Wizard of Lies, among others. Through their partnership with the world’s largest studios, like HBO, Disney and Showtime, Hotstar has managed to bring the most celebrated international shows to India, under the Hotstar Premium bucket.
(For our readers: We, at indiantelevision.com got an email from Hotstar communications agency Text100 on 16 September at 11:19 pm after the Emmy Award Hotstar telecast press release was published on 16 September at 9:22 am. It had already been indexed by the Google News bot. The Text 100 email read as follows
“Request you to disregard the announcement in this email. The information contained in it is incorrect. Hence, please do not publish it or use it in any form of story. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Another email followed from Text100 at 11:49 pm. It said:
“As discussed, request you to disregard the previous communication on Hotstar live streaming the Emmys. The information is incorrect. Hence, please do not use it in any form of story. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Here’s the link that was published – http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/hotstar-to-live-stream-emmy-awards-in-india-on-18-sept-170916?amp
We have chosen to use the strikethrough text mode to inform readers that the story has been cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by the incorrect information provided by Hotstar’s agency, Text100. We adhere to the highest editorial standards and our effort is to bring you the most accurate information possible. Always – Editor
(Updated on 17 September 2017 at 10:57 am)
Later in the day we got another email from Text100 stating that the Emmy Awards would be streamed on 18 September from 8 pm onwards. So now you know when to watch your favourite awards show on Hotstar. Hence, we removed the strikethrough mode and updated the story.
(Updated on 17 September at 6:43 pm)
iWorld
Bill Ackman makes a $64bn bid for Universal Music Group
The hedge fund boss wants to list the world’s biggest record label in New York and thinks he knows exactly what ails it
NEW YORK: Bill Ackman wants to buy the world’s biggest record label. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by the billionaire investor, submitted a non-binding proposal on Tuesday to acquire all outstanding shares of Universal Music Group in a business combination transaction worth roughly $64.4 billion (around 55.8 billion euros).
Under the terms of the offer, UMG shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, equivalent to 5.05 euros per share, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company, dubbed New UMG, for each share held. Pershing Square values the total package at 30.40 euros per share, a 78 per cent premium to UMG’s closing price on April 2.
The deal would see UMG merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the combined entity incorporating as a Nevada corporation and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New UMG would publish financial statements under US GAAP and become eligible for S&P 500 index inclusion. Pershing Square says the transaction is expected to close by year-end, with all equity financing backstopped by Ackman’s firm and its affiliates, and all debt financing committed at signing. The transaction would cancel 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, leaving New UMG with 1.541 billion shares outstanding.
Ackman has a long history with UMG. Pershing Square first bought approximately 10 per cent of the company from Vivendi in the summer of 2021 for around $4 billion, around the time of UMG’s listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He has since trimmed that position, raising around $1.4 billion from the sale of a 2.7 per cent stake in March 2025, and resigned from UMG’s board in May 2025, citing new executive and board obligations arising from recent investments.
His diagnosis of UMG’s troubles is blunt. The company’s stock has fallen around 33 per cent over the past twelve months on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, and Ackman lays out six reasons why. These include uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s 18 per cent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s US listing, the underutilisation of UMG’s balance sheet, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, a failure to reflect UMG’s 2.7 billion euro stake in Spotify in its valuation, and what Ackman calls suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications and engagement.
The Bolloré stake has long cast a shadow over the company. Cyrille Bolloré stepped down from UMG’s board in July 2025 as the Bolloré Group battled the French financial markets regulator over its stake in Vivendi, which holds a further capital interest in UMG. UMG had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025 for a proposed secondary listing in America, but put those plans on hold in March 2026, citing market conditions.
Ackman has kind words for UMG’s management, at least. “Since UMG’s listing, Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” he said. But he made his diagnosis plain: “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
In other words, Ackman believes UMG is a great business trapped inside a broken structure. If the board agrees, he intends to fix that, loudly and in New York.
