ZEE vs T-Series saga: ZEE speaks out
As revealed exclusively by Biz Asiaearlier this week, media giant ZEE Network and record label T-Series are at loggerheads with each other.
ZEE Network owned music channel ETC issued a notice claiming that T-Series had owed them legitimate dues of over Rs.7 crores and due to this they had decided to stop telecasting the audio label’s promos and trailers.
However, T-Series turned this around on ZEE, saying that they had no outstanding monies to pay to ZEE or ETC, instead they decided to withdraw all T-Series advertising and freeplay content with effect from 1st July on the ZEE channels. T-Series has also gone one step further by accusing the ZEE channels of infringing copyrights against the Intellectual Property Rights of the entire film industry including T-Series.
Where things stand now…
As of today, 6th July, ZEE channels in the UK have dropped most (not all) of T-Series music videos from its channels. According to several viewers T-Series videos of ‘Phir Hera Pheri’, ‘Chup Chup Ke’, ‘Krrish’ and ‘Humko Deewana Kar Gaye’ are still being screened on the channels. However, ZEE Network has said that programmes featuring these videos are ‘old tapes’ and from next week, these videos will disappear too.
Moreover, speaking exclusively to Biz Asia, ZEE Network’ Senior Vice President, Corporate Brand Development, Ashish Kaul said;
“We sent them (T-Series) a legal notice on 26th (June) to pay up by 1st July or face a ban on the whole of the ZEE Network. We published a notice in complete cinema…of course they in retaliation sent us a laughable notice..someone in complete cinema alerted them it seems.
Everyone in the industry / Indian movie world knows that you are in big trouble if you are not on ETC and ZEE Network and the rest need one elaborate? I wonder in absence of ETC and ETC Punjabi how will they (T-Series) promote their launches and satisfy their clients.”
So it seems the ZEE Network is quite confident with its decision and has described the feud as a loss for T-Series. But is it? ZEE viewers were deprived of ‘Fanaa’ content when ZEE opted not to air clippings of the Yashraj movie due to a financial disagreement between the two parties. Now it seems, ZEE viewers will be left out in the cold once again, this time without any visual content of forthcoming T-Series biggies such as ‘Don’, ‘Babul’ and ‘Jaaneman’ amongst many others!
With T-Series being the undisputed leader of Bollywood music in India, ZEE rivals will no doubt be quick to jump on the bandwagon to acquire exclusive material from the record label to air on its channels, namely B4U Music, Channel [V], Sony Entertainment Television Asia and STAR Plus.
Many questions still remain unanswered. What will happen to film distributors who depend on free plays of music videos to coincide with paid advertising on the ZEE channels? Will these film distributors continue to liaise with ZEE knowing well that they will be unable to air any T-Series music content? And how will T-Series cope without coverage on the ZEE channels around the world?
A loss for ZEE or for T-Series…we’ll keep a close eye on this!
