GECs
Sony bags showman Ghai library
The Showman – as Subhash Ghai is known – has found a buyer for his 15 strong movie library, a year after B4U failed to deliver on its commitments to acquiring it. The buyer this time has deeper pockets so Mukta Arts shareholders and investors need not crease their brows with worry: Sony Entertainment Television. The transaction is believed to be valued in the region of Rs 140 million, a similar amount that B4U had agreed to pay Mukta Arts earlier.
Sony will be airing the movies in two tranches under the banner of The Dream Merchant- the Subhash Ghai film festival airing every Saturday. The first tranche is from 25 May to 6 July and is scheduled to be only on Sony Entertainment Television. The lineup of the movies is: Taal (25 May), Karma (1 June), Karz (8 June), Pardes (15 June), Saudagar (22 June) Khalnayak (29 June), and Yaadein (6 July).
In the second tranche, the remaining eight movies will air on Set Max in October after the Champions Trophy. SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta is buoyant: “This is the biggest acquisition of Hindi movie blockbusters to date. And we are bringing the best of Indian cinema to our viewers.” SET officials say that a host of promotions is planned around the festival and Ghai himself may make an appearance to promote his brand of cinema.
GECs
Zee scales syndication with global tie-ups, 350 plus channel MCN
Vertical, dubbed and audio formats boost digital reach
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is giving its content library a fresh passport. The company has stepped up its syndication push, signing global partnerships, experimenting with new-age formats and building a multi-channel network that now spans more than 350 channels.
With the newly secured MCN licence, Zee can manage, distribute and monetise content across leading digital platforms at scale, strengthening its presence in the fast-growing creator and short-form ecosystem.
To keep pace with changing viewing habits, the company is also reshaping its content into formats built for the small screen in your hand. In a tie-up with micro-drama platform Story TV, select titles are being reworked into vertical, short-duration episodes tailored for mobile-first audiences.
Beyond India, the syndication team is widening its global footprint with foreign-language dubbing and regional partnerships across Europe, Africa and Latin America, opening up fresh markets for Indian stories.
Zee is also tapping into the audio boom. It has begun licensing audio remake rights for legacy properties such as Zee Horror Show, with several more titles lined up for audio-first adaptations.
On the digital front, the company has made progress in monetising non-exclusive rights for library films, while converting select shows and movies from horizontal to vertical formats to improve discoverability on short-form platforms.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. business head syndication Vinod Johri, said syndication has emerged as a strong growth lever for the company. He noted that the combination of a large MCN network, global partnerships and new formats such as vertical video and audio is helping build a future-ready engine that extracts more value from the content library.
Together, these moves signal a platform-agnostic approach to storytelling, as Zee repackages, localises and redistributes its IP across geographies, formats and screens, ensuring its catalogue keeps working long after the first broadcast.
