Reliance and Walt Disney Crafted a New Strategy to Win Faster Antitrust Approval

Nitin Konde, Bhoraniya Huda Hifzur Rehman

Aug 16, 2024 — 2 min read

Reliance and Walt Disney Crafted a New Strategy to Win Faster Antitrust Approval

In order to expedite the antitrust clearance process for their $8.5 billion merger of Indian media holdings, Reliance and Walt Disney have reportedly offered to sell some channels. However, they are reportedly fighting any adjustments made to the cricket broadcast rights that they own.

With a combined 120 TV channels and two streaming services, the Reliance-Disney merger, which was announced in February, is sure to be closely watched by antitrust experts. This is because it will result in creating India's largest entertainment platform, locking horns directly with Sony, Netflix, Amazon, and Zee Entertainment.

The Merger Will Have an Upper Hand

Many are worried about the combined business's pricing power and its influence on advertisers, especially since Reliance, owned by Asia's wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani, will own a majority stake in the combined entity. The combined company will also own valuable cricket broadcasting rights worth billions of dollars.

Reliance and Disney have informed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that they are prepared to sell a small number of television channels (less than ten) in order to allay fears of market dominance and secure early clearance, after the watchdog's secret requests for approximately one hundred questions pertaining to the merger. There are other stipulations that pertain to regional Indian language channels that the two firms might control.

This Is Not the First Time Such a Merger Is Happening

During the year 2022, Zee and Sony made an offer to sell three television stations in order to create a television behemoth in India that would be worth ten billion dollars. However, despite the fact that this helped them get clearance from the CCI, the merger ultimately failed.

The notification that was issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to approve that merger included information about the competitive landscape. The notification revealed that in the local language of Marathi, Disney and Reliance channels had a combined market share of between 65 and 75 per cent at that time. A market share of up to 50 per cent was held by the two with regard to Bengali language entertainment channels.

Cricketing Rights Play a Vital Role

Cricket is an additional area of disagreement in the merger procedure. In India, the sport has a devoted fan base, making the matches highly desirable for sponsors.

The Indian Premier League (IPL), the most prestigious cricket event in the world, and other major leagues' digital and television cricket rights would be owned by Reliance-Disney.

So far, the CCI has not voiced any worries about the firms' market strength in cricket rights, but the corporations have argued with the CCI that the rights cannot be sold at the moment because they expire in 2027 and 2028.

According to a report, the corporations are also worried that the approval process could be prolonged because the Indian cricket body would have to approve any sub-licencing of cricket rights.