Disney, Reliance overcome cricket concerns to win approval for $8.5 bln India merger
Reliance-Disney aim to create India's biggest entertainment company
Companies clear antitrust hurdle after cricket rights scrutiny
Both offered some concessions to win approval, source says
Adds more detail on concessions from source in paragraph 7, background in paras 5, 11-15, graphic and bullet points
By Aditya Kalra
BENGALURU, Aug 28 (Reuters) -Walt Disney Co DIS.N and Reliance Industries RELI.NS won approval on Wednesday for an $8.5 billion merger of their Indian media assets after assuaging regulatory worries about their grip on broadcasting rights for cricket, India's favourite sport.
India's Competition Commission (CCI) said the deal had been approved subject to some modifications.
The antitrust watchdog had expressed concern that a merged entity would control most cricket rights for TV and streaming in India, and could hurt advertisers.
The merger will create India's biggest entertainment player to compete with Sony 6758.T, Netflix NFLX.O and Amazon AMZN.O with 120 TV channels and two streaming services.
Reliance and Disney have spent roughly $9.5 billion in recent years for TV and streaming rights for the world's richest cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, the International Cricket Council's matches such as the one-day and T20 World Cups, and matches organised by the Indian cricket board.
To get the merger over the line, the two companies have offered concessions to the CCI, including a commitment to not raise advertising rates unreasonably for streamed cricket matches, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
They also pledged not to bundle and sell advertising slots for different cricket tournaments, the source added.
The CCI said in a statement it "approves the proposed combination", without giving any more details.
For an interactive version of this graphic: https://reut.rs/49yL83p
Both companies have offered free viewing of matches over the years to attract users to their streaming platforms in the hope they will then buy subscriptions.
Media agency GroupM estimates that companies spent nearly $2 billion in India in 2023 on sports industry related sponsorship, endorsement and media, with cricket accounting for 87% of the spend.
Disney and Reliance's merged entity will also own Indian broadcast rights for the Wimbledon tennis championship, MotoGP and the English Premier League, among other sporting events.
The merged company will be majority owned by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani's Reliance RELI.NS. The CCI had privately asked Reliance and Disney around 100 questions related to the merger.
K.K. Sharma, a former head of mergers at the CCI, had earlier said the deal, if approved, would create "a big fish in the broadcasting market" which will practically be a "monopoly on cricket advertisement revenues".
Sports broadcast in India after Reliance Disney media merger https://reut.rs/3Tk37Vj
Sports broadcast in India after Reliance Disney media merger https://reut.rs/49yL83p
Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Barbara Lewis, Kirsten Donovan
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
