India's Eros in early talks with Apple, others to sell content library - source
07/08/2017 07:15
MUMBAI, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Indian movie production house Eros
Group is in preliminary talks with Apple AAPL.O and other
major content distributors to sell its entire content library of
films and music, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters
on Monday.
The other parties in the fray include Amazon AMZN.O and
Netflix NFLX.O , but talks are in very early stages, said the
source, who declined to be named as the discussions are private.
India's Economic Times reported the talks earlier in the
day. The newspaper, which cited multiple sources familiar with
the matter, said the deal could be worth around $1 billion.
Eros Group, whose Eros International Plc EROS.N is listed
in New York, and Netflix were not immediately reachable for
comment.
Apple said it does not comment on speculation, while a
spokeswoman for Amazon also said "the company does not comment
on rumour and speculation".
Amazon and Netflix have been pushing especially hard to make
inroads into the burgeoning Indian content streaming market, and
have bulked up their Bollywood offerings significantly in a bid
to lure new subscribers.
The deal may include Eros' digital over-the-top (OTT)
platform, Eros Now, the Economic Times report said. With OTT
platforms, subscribers can view films and TV content via the
internet, without having to sign up with a traditional cable or
satellite-TV service provider. (http://bit.ly/2vvW1Dg)
JM Financial is advising Eros on the deal, the report added.
Shares of the India-listed Eros International Media
EROS.NS rose as much as 9 percent in early trading on the
National Stock Exchange to their highest since July 31. The
stock was up 5 percent at 220.85 rupees ($3.47) at 0600 GMT.
($1 = 63.7025 Indian rupees)
(Reporting By Sankalp Phartiyal, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Rahul
Bhatia and Devidutta Tripathy in Mumbai, and Samantha Kareen
Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
((samanthakareen.nair@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8067491310,
Reuters Messaging:
samanthakareen.nair.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: EROS GROUP APPLE/DEALS