Ambani brings big guns to India’s streaming wars

TV18 Broadcast

28/01/2022 03:21

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Una Galani
    MUMBAI, Jan 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Reliance boss
is close to a tie-up with James Murdoch and Uday Shankar that
will turn his TV network into a formidable rival to Disney,
Sony-Zee and Amazon. It’s likely to add more ammunition to the
battle for content. That will please viewers but also lead to
overspending.
    Full view will be published shortly.
    Follow @ugalani https://twitter.com/ugalani on Twitter
    
    CONTEXT NEWS
    - Lupa India, an investment company set up by James Murdoch
and former Star India and Walt Disney executive Uday Shankar, is
close to acquiring almost 40% of Viacom18, the Economic Times
reported on Jan. 26 citing unnamed sources. 
    - The group plans to invest 120 billion rupees ($1.6
billion) in the entertainment and sports business, including
through the issuance of primary shares, at a valuation of around
$4 billion. Viacom18 is 51% owned TV18 Broadcast and 49% owned
by ViacomCBS. After the deal, ViacomCBS’ interest will reduce to
10%. 
    - TV18 is a subsidiary of Mumbai-listed Network18 which is
75% owned https://www.nw18.com/shareholding by entities related
to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. 


 (Editing by Antony Currie and Katrina Hamlin)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  GALANI/   
SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS https://bit.ly/BVsubscribe
 | una.galani@thomsonreuters.com;  Reuters Messaging:
una.galani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))