Walt Disney Co and Reliance Industries have secured approval for their $8.5 billion merger of Indian media assets, subject to certain conditions, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) declared on Wednesday.
The CCI, while confirming its approval of the merger, did not provide additional details.
The deal, around which the antitrust watchdog had raised concerns over the virtual monopoly of big ticket of cricket rights (IPL, BCCI and ICC), will create India’s largest entertainment entity, positioning it against rivals such as Sony, Netflix, and Amazon with a portfolio of 120 TV channels and two streaming services – Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema. It bears noting that as per repoorts, Disney+ Hotstar will be incorporated into JioCinema, once the merger process is completed in October.
Earlier this month, CCI had expressed concerns that the merger could lead to excessive control over cricket broadcasting rights and adversely affect advertisers. Other than its publicly expressed concerns over cricket rights monopoly, the CCI had posed around 100 questions in all to both companies regarding the merger.
In response, Reliance and Disney proposed concessions, including pledges not to unreasonably increase advertising rates for streamed cricket matches (but NOT put a two-year moratorium ad rates increases as one media report had surmised).
