Disney-Reliance offer concessions for India merger, but no cricket rights sale

Reliance Industrial Infrastructure

22/08/2024 12:54

By Aditya Kalra
       NEW DELHI, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Disney  DIS.N  and
Reliance  RELI.NS  have offered some concessions to secure an
India antitrust approval for their $8.5 billion media merger,
but are unwilling to sell any cricket broadcast rights, the
biggest prize in the deal, two sources familiar with matter
said.
    Reuters reported earlier this week that the Competition
Commission of India (CCI) sent a warning notice to the companies
expressing concern that their merged entity will have a tight
grip on most cricket rights for TV and streaming in India, and
can hurt advertisers.
    In their response, the companies have offered to go easy on
advertising rate hikes and not increase them unreasonably, the
sources said.
    Reliance-Disney are aiming to create India's biggest
entertainment player which will compete with Sony  6758.T ,
Netflix  NFLX.O  and Amazon  AMZN.O  with 120 TV channels and
two streaming services, but cricket, which has a fanatical
following in the country, is the crown jewel. 
    Many antitrust experts had said that one way to clear the
antitrust hurdle was to sell some cricket rights, be it for some
tournaments or broadcast medium like TV, but Disney and Reliance
have made a new private submission at the CCI in which they have
said they are unwilling to do so, said the two sources, who
declined to be named as the process is confidential.
    The submissions are being reported for the first time.
Reliance, Disney and the CCI did not immediately respond to
Reuters queries. 
    

 (Reporting by Aditya Kalra; editing by David Evans)
 ((aditya.kalra@thomsonreuters.com; @adityakalra;))