The data showed that the shares of four channels of the merged entity had come down compared to financial year ended March 2021–the data used by the CCI to scrutinise the Zee-Sony merger. Some legal experts had said that the proposed merger could go through if these adjustments were made. The NCLT order also comes a month after Zee announced that it had received approval from BSE and the National Stock Exchange for the merger with Sony, paving the way for the merger process to move to the next stage. Last December, the companies had signed definitive agreements to merge Zee into Sony and combine their linear TV networks, digital assets, production operations and programme libraries. The transaction would create the second-largest entertainment network, after Disney-Star in India, analysts had said back then. The merged company would retain Zee's stock market listing, though Sony would provide a large cash injection and control a majority shareholding of close to 51 per cent.