The announcement puts to rest speculation that Nimbus was working on a distribution deal with Sony Entertainment Television, after an agreement with Star India was called off.

Nimbus' efforts to reach a distribution deal failed after the government issued an ordinance making it mandatory for the private broadcaster to share feed with public broadcaster Doordarshan, ending any exclusivity it enjoyed.

"The independent distribution route will allow us a rapid ramp up, better long term control and superior revenue accumulation. For the next 2-3 months, the focus will be on getting maximum distribution reach for Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus," Neo Sports CEO Shashi Kalathil said in a statement.

Former Zee Turner CEO Arun Poddar has been appointed President (Sales) for Neo Sports.

Kalathil said the bouquet will be expanded on the basis of considerable interest and the best option in the Indian environment is to extract revenues from the cable TV distribution team.