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
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Javobgarlikdan voz kechish: XM Group korxonalari har biri faqat ijro xizmatlarini koʻrsatadi va onlayn savdo platformamizdan foydalanish huquqini beradi, bu odamga veb-saytda yoki veb-sayt orqali mavjud boʻlgan kontentni koʻrish va/yoki undan foydalanishga ruxsat beradi hamda uni oʻzgartirishga moʻljallanmagan va uni oʻzgartirmaydi yoki kengaytirmaydi. Bunday kirish va foydalanish huquqi doimo quyidagilarga boʻysunadi: (i) Shartlar va qoidalar; (ii) Risklar haqida ogohlantirish; va (iii) Javobgarlikni toʻliq rad etish. Shuning uchun bunday kontent umumiy maʼlumot sifatida taqdim etiladi. Xususan, shuni esda tutingki, bizning onlayn savdo platformamiz mazmuni moliyaviy bozorlarda biror bitimni amalga oshirishga oid maslahat yoki taklif emas. Har qanday moliyaviy bozorda savdo qilish sizning kapitalingiz uchun jiddiy risk darajasini oʻz ichiga oladi.
Onlayn savdo platformamizda chop etilgan barcha materiallar faqat taʼlim/axborot maqsadlari uchun moʻljallangan va unda moliyaviy, investitsiya soligʻi yoki savdo maslahatlari va tavsiyalar; yoki bizning savdo narxlarimizning qaydlari; yoki har qanday moliyaviy vositalar bilan bitim tuzish maslahati yoki taklifi; yoki sizga kerak boʻlmagan moliyaviy reklama aksiyalari hisoblanmaydi
Har qanday uchinchi tomon kontenti, shuningdek XM tomonidan tayyorlangan kontent, masalan: fikrlar, yangiliklar, tadqiqotlar, tahlillar, narxlar va boshqa maʼlumotlar yoki bu veb-saytda joylashgan uchinchi tomon saytlariga havolalar umumiy bozor sharhi sifatida "boricha" taqdim etiladi va investitsiya maslahatini tashkil etmaydi. Har qanday kontent investitsiya tadqiqoti sifatida talqin qilinsa, siz bunday kontentni investitsiya tadqiqotlarining mustaqilligini ragʻbatlantirish uchun moʻljallangan qonun talablariga muvofiq moʻljallanmagan va tayyorlanmaganligini eʼtiborga olishingiz va qabul qilishingiz kerak, shuning uchun unga tegishli qonunlar va qoidalarga muvofiq marketing kommunikatsiyasi sifatida qaraladi. Mustaqil boʻlmagan investitsiya tadqiqoti va yuqoridagi maʼlumotlarga oid risk haqida ogohlantirishimizni oʻqib chiqqaningizga va tushunganingizga ishonch hosil qiling, unga bu yerdan kirish mumkin.
