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India antitrust guard dog cautions Disney, Dependence merger will injure competitors, sources state

India's antitrust body has reached an initial assessment that the $8.5 billion India merger of Dependence and Walt Disney media possessions harms competition due to their power over cricket broadcast rights, 4 sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

In the biggest setback up until now to their prepared merger, the Competitors Commission of India (CCI) has actually privately informed Disney and Reliance its view and asked the business to describe why an examination ought to not be ordered, one of the sources stated.

Cricket is the most significant pain point for the CCI, stated among the sources.

The merged company, which would be majority owned by Asia's. richest male Mukesh Ambani's Reliance, would have. profitable rights worth billions of dollars for the broadcast of. cricket, raising worries over pricing power and its grip over. advertisers.

Reliance, Disney and the CCI did not right away react to. requests for remark. All sources declined to be called as the. CCI process is personal.

Antitrust professionals had actually alerted the merger, revealed in. February, could face intense analysis as it will develop India's. most significant entertainment player which will compete with Sony. , Zee Entertainment, Netflix and. Amazon with a combined 120 television channels and two. streaming services.

The CCI previously privately asked Reliance and Disney around. 100 concerns associated to the merger. The business have actually informed the. watchdog they want to offer less than 10 tv. channels to assuage concerns about market power and win an early. approval, sources told Reuters.

However they had actually refused to relent on cricket, telling the CCI. that broadcast and streaming rights will end in 2027 and 2028. and can not be offered today, and that any such move would. require the cricket board's approval, which could delay the. process.

The CCI notice might delay the approval procedure but the. business can still resolve the issues by using more. concessions, a second source stated.

This is a precursor of things getting complex ... The. notice implies that at first the CCI thinks the merger damages. competition and whatever concessions offered are inadequate,. included the person.

A third source said CCI has given the business 1 month to. respond and discuss their position, and the issues currently. focus on how marketers could face prices obstacles if. the entities are combined.

The CCI is concerned the entity can increase rates for. advertisers throughout live events, said the 3rd individual.

Jefferies has said the Disney-Reliance entity will have a. 40% share of the marketing market in TV and streaming. sectors.

Cricket has a fanatical following in India and matches are. searched for by marketers. Reliance-Disney will own digital. and TV cricket rights for top leagues, including for the world's. most important cricket competition, the Indian Premier League.

The former head of mergers at the CCI, K.K Sharma, has actually said. the merger could lead to almost an outright control over. cricket.

Zee and Sony prepared to create a $10 billion TV leviathan in. India and in 2022 and got a comparable warning notification.

They used some concessions by selling 3 television channels. which assisted them win a CCI approval, however the merger ultimately. collapsed.

(source: Reuters)