Star Sports Net Worth 2026 is one of the most recognizable names in Indian sports broadcasting, holding the rights to cricket’s biggest tournaments and reaching hundreds of millions of viewers. But how much is the network actually worth today? The answer has changed dramatically over the past couple of years, and the story behind it is almost as interesting as the sport it broadcasts.
Star Sports Isn’t a Standalone Company
Before getting into numbers, it helps to understand the structure. Star Sports isn’t valued on its own — it operates as part of a much larger parent company, originally called Star India and now known as Disney Star. This entertainment giant runs dozens of TV channels across multiple Indian languages, covering everything from general entertainment to news to sports, alongside the streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar.
From a $71 Billion Global Deal to a Steep Decline
Star India’s roots trace back to 1991, when it was founded by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation as a satellite broadcaster targeting Asian markets. Disney entered the picture in 2019 after acquiring 21st Century Fox’s assets in a massive $71 billion global deal, which brought Star India — and by extension, Star Sports — fully under Disney’s ownership.
At the time of that acquisition, Star India’s business alone was reportedly worth somewhere between $15 billion and $17 billion. That number, however, didn’t hold. As streaming rights costs climbed and competition intensified, the valuation of Disney’s India operations dropped sharply over the following years, with some assessments putting the figure as low as $2 billion to $3 billion by 2024 — a steep decline driven largely by rising costs tied to sports broadcasting rights.
The Big Merger That Changed Everything
The most significant shift came in November 2024, when Star India merged with Viacom18 — a company backed by Reliance Industries and Mukesh Ambani — to form a brand-new entity called JioStar. This combined business was valued at roughly $8.5 billion at the time of the deal, with Reliance Industries taking majority ownership at just over 63%, while Disney retained a minority stake of roughly 37%.
As part of that deal, Reliance also pumped in a fresh capital injection of around $1.1 billion to help strengthen the merged company’s future growth.
Why Sports Rights Drive So Much of the Value
A major reason Star Sports carries such heavy financial weight within its parent company comes down to broadcasting rights. The network has held the rights to some of the biggest cricket properties in the world, including the Indian Premier League and various ICC tournaments, deals that have historically run into the billions of dollars. These rights bring in massive advertising and subscription revenue, but they’ve also become increasingly expensive to secure, which is part of why the broader Star India business took a financial hit even as its sports division remained hugely popular with viewers.
The Current Financial Picture
The financial pressure has shown up clearly in recent earnings reports. Star India, prior to its restructuring into JioStar, posted a steep annual net loss running into the thousands of crores, with both advertising and subscription revenue declining year over year. While Star Sports itself doesn’t release a standalone net worth figure, industry estimates place its individual value in the billions of dollars, driven almost entirely by its sports broadcasting rights portfolio and massive viewership base across Indian sports fans.
Bottom Line
Star Sports doesn’t operate with a single, publicly disclosed net worth figure, but its value is deeply tied to its parent company’s fortunes — a company that has swung from a $71 billion global acquisition to a steep valuation drop, and finally into a fresh $8.5 billion joint venture under JioStar. Whatever the exact number, one thing is clear: as long as cricket remains India’s biggest obsession, Star Sports will remain one of the most valuable media properties in the country.