What is Sony Sports Network?
Sony Sports Network is the sports arm of Sony Pictures Networks India, a television and streaming company whose registered name is Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited. Its own sports page lists the channels as Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 3 Hindi, Sony TEN 4 in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, and Sony TEN 5, with high-definition feeds alongside several of them.[2]
On its corporate pages the company describes a business of 29 channels, a presence in more than 150 countries, more than 700 million viewers and about 1,200 employees, with a single digital platform, Sony LIV, carrying live sport alongside entertainment. Gaurav Banerjee is named as managing director and chief executive.[1] Those are the company's own figures about itself.
The corporate name is worth stating precisely because it changed twice. The registered entity was renamed Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited in 2022, and reverted to Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited in 2026, a change reported on 27 May 2026; through both changes the consumer-facing brand remained Sony Pictures Networks India.[3]
What does Sony Sports Network cover?
The network's recent acquisitions are in multi-sport events. It holds exclusive Indian subcontinent media rights to the Commonwealth Games: the 2026 Games were staged in Glasgow from 23 July to 2 August 2026 and were carried on Sony Sports Network channels and streamed on Sony LIV, under a deal reported on 16 July 2026.[5] On 21 April 2026 the company announced exclusive media rights for India and the Indian subcontinent to the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, which opened on 19 September 2026 and run to 4 October 2026, again across the Sony Sports Network channels and Sony LIV; the company's chief revenue officer described it as the third time the event had come to the network.[4]
In football, the company's own newsroom records a renewal of exclusive India media rights to the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, Super Cup and Youth League for three further seasons. The release retrieved for this page does not carry a readable publication date or the specific season years, so the term is reported as the company states it and not anchored to a calendar range.[6]
The channel line-up itself indicates the language footprint: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada feeds.[2]
How large is Sony Sports Network's audience?
The only reach figure the company publishes is its own. Sony Pictures Networks India states that it reaches more than 700 million viewers across more than 150 countries from 29 channels.[1] No measurement body is named alongside that number, so it is the company's claim about itself rather than an audited figure.
Television audiences in India are measured by the Broadcast Audience Research Council, which reports weekly impressions by channel. No current BARC rating for the Sony TEN channels could be retrieved for this page, and no Comscore figure for Sony LIV could be retrieved either.
What can be stated with a date is carriage rather than audience: the network carried the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games across the subcontinent between 23 July and 2 August 2026,[5] and announced subcontinent rights to the 2026 Asian Games on 21 April 2026.[4] Carriage of a multi-sport Games is a structural proxy for the network's position; it is not a measure of how many people watched.
Since when has Sony Sports Network existed?
The company distinguishes its own history from the sports brand. Its corporate pages describe a 30-year operating history in India.[1] That is the parent network's span and not the founding date of the sports channels, which carry the Sony TEN branding now listed on the company's sports page.[2]
The corporate name has its own sequence. The registered entity became Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited in a 2022 rebranding, and the reversion to Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited was reported on 27 May 2026 as a formal alignment of the legal identity with the consumer brand that had been in use throughout.[3] A rename is not a founding and the two are kept separate here; no founding date for the sports channels themselves could be retrieved from a primary source.
The rights portfolio is younger than either. The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games deals described above were announced in 2026.[4][5]
Why does Sony Sports Network matter in India's sport?
The multi-sport Games that fall outside cricket's calendar — the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in 2026 — went to this network rather than to the cricket rights holder, which is what put athletics, badminton, shooting, wrestling and the rest of the Games programme on Indian television in those weeks.[4][5]
When reports in December 2025 said the International Cricket Council was looking for a successor to its Indian rights holder, Sony Pictures Networks India was named among the parties the council approached; no agreement with the company was reported and the incumbent's agreement was subsequently confirmed by the parties as remaining in force.[7] That is a report of exploratory contact, not a finding and not a concluded deal.
Its football portfolio adds a second, continuing strand: the company's own newsroom records exclusive Indian rights to the UEFA club competitions renewed for three further seasons.[6]
References
- Sony Pictures Networks India — About Us. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Sony Pictures Networks India — Sports channels. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- afaqs — Sony Pictures Networks India drops the Culver Max name and returns to its legacy identity, 27 May 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- MediaNews4u — Sony Pictures Networks India secures exclusive broadcast rights for the 20th Asian Games, Aichi-Nagoya 2026, 21 April 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Exchange4media — Sony Pictures Networks India acquires rights for the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, 16 July 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Sony Pictures Networks India — press release on the renewal of exclusive media rights for UEFA club competitions in India. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Exchange4media — Media rights: ICC's hunt for a JioStar successor may be easier said than done, 10 December 2025. Accessed 2026-09-19.