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Sony Pictures Networks India Appoints Gaurav Banerjee as Managing Director, CEO
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Former managing director and CEO NP Singh stepped down from his role on May 24. Singh stated that he would "shift from operational roles to advisory ones" after 44 years at Sony Pictures Networks India. He is now in the role of a non-executive chair until the end of the financial year.
Banerjee was formerly the head of content for Hindi-language entertainment and Disney+ Hotstar at Disney India. He occupied several other roles at the company. Prior to Disney, he worked as a news anchor and producer Aaj Tak before moving to Star News.
Sony terminated its plans for a US$10 billion merger with Zee Entertainment in late January. The merger was planned to combine the television and streaming operations of the media companies in India, but Sony called off the deal stating that closing conditions were not satisfied,
The National Company Law Tribunal had cleared the deal in August 2023. Bloomberg had reported on January 8 that Sony was looking to call off the merger as the companies were unable to reach an agreement on the allocation of leadership roles within the combined group after completion. Zee Entertainment had stated on January 19 that it was working toward a successful closure of the deal with Sony.
Sony's Funimation Global Group completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T on August 9, 2021, after the company first announced the acquisition in December 2020. In addition to Crunchyroll, Sony owns the subsidiary anime production companies A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks through Aniplex.
Crunchyroll began streaming several of its anime titles in India on March 1, 2022. Funimation and Crunchyroll announced on the same day that Funimation and Wakanim's anime library and simulcast content had moved to Crunchyroll. The company appointed Rahul Purini as CEO in April 2022 after several years as COO of Funimation. It announced its first slate of Hindi and Indian English dubs in November 2022 as it introduced subscription tiers for Indian audiences, and it launched a UPI (United Payment Interface) option for Indian subscribers in September.
Crunchyroll entered a partnership with brand licensing agency Black White Orange to oversee and manage licensing merchandise programs in India in October.
Source: Variety (Patrick Frater, Naman Ramachandran)
