Reliance and Disney offer to sell a few channels to win antitrust approval for their merger

However, the two are resisting any changes to the cricket broadcast rights they own.

Reliance and Walt Disney have offered to sell a few channels to win antitrust approval for their $8.5 billion India media assets merger, reports Reuters. However, the two are resisting any changes to the cricket broadcast rights they own, two sources told the news wire agency.  

With a combined might of 120 channels and two streaming services, their merger will create India’s biggest entertainment player and compete with Sony, Zee Entertainment, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video.

After the Competition Commission of India (CCI) privately asked Reliance and Disney around 100 questions related to the merger, the companies have told the watchdog they are willing to sell some TV channels - fewer than 10 - to assuage concerns of market power and win an early approval, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, to Reuters.

The sources said some of the concessions being offered relate to regional Indian language channels where the two companies may have a dominant market share.

Cricket remains another point of contention in the merger process. Investment bank and financial services company Jefferies said the Disney-Reliance entity will have a 40% share of the advertising market in TV and streaming segments.

The two hold rights to most of the cricket tournaments including the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL). K.K Sharma, a former head of mergers at CCI, has told Reuters previously: "With Disney and Reliance together, hardly anything of cricket will be left ... Here, it is not merely dominance but almost an absolute control over cricket."

The CCI is studying the market power of the companies in cricket rights and has not raised any concerns so far, but the companies have argued with the CCI that the rights will expire in 2027 and 2028 and can't be sold right now, the sources said.

Further, the companies have raised concerns that any sub-licensing of cricket rights to another party would also require prior approvals from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which could prolong the approval process, the sources said.

"The companies are arguing that nothing can be done on cricket rights," one of the sources said.