During the earnings call for the second quarter of FY24, the MD & CEO, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) said that his company recognizes what value the merger of his company with Sony holds.

“As you all must have noticed during the quarter, we received the approval from the Mumbai bench of NCLT on the composite scheme of arrangement. From our perspective, we are committed to ensuring that all points in the composite scheme of arrangements are duly addressed. We recognize the value that the merger holds. Our focus remains on unlocking the opportunities for all the stakeholders.”

“We are in active engagement with Sony on various parts of the entire scheme to be finally implemented after all the approvals that we have got,” Goenka said on being asked about the ongoing speculations over the merger and the recent reports of Sony wanting its own executive to take charge of the merged entity and reports of alleged stalling of the merger.

During the call, Goenka also said that it is an exciting time for media and entertainment industry and increasing investments will only lead to growth.

“The industry is going through a rapid evolution and several changes can be expected at a structural level in the years to come. It is an exciting time for the media and entertainment ecosystem and the increasing investment in competition will only lead to higher opportunities of growth. Our company remains well positioned to capitalize on any shifts as a resultant opportunity with a diversified portfolio,” he said.

He also said that the next quarter looks even better on the back of festive season.

“The festive season is expected to spur growth during the third quarter and we remain optimistic of delivering higher growth with some caution towards the overall macro-economic environment,” he said.

On the subscription side, Goenka said that with NTO 3.0 implementation having stabilized, “We find ourselves on a better footing and remain hopeful of sustaining growth levels in the coming quarters.”

Talking about paid TV, he said, “We continue to make significant efforts along with the industry to drive growth of pay tv ecosystem in India. We are enthused by the results of those efforts where our tv viewership continues to grow, share of pay tv is at its peak of past seven quarters and have increased by nearly 300 basis points in the last one year.”

“Overall, the second quarter has displayed positive signs of growth compared to the start of this fiscal and we remain hopeful of this sentiment further improving as we go forward,” he said.