MUMBAI: The creation of a media monolith in India got another tick mark over the weekend.
Oil to telecom to retail giant the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Ltd and its broadcast subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd informed the Bombay stock exchange that the ministry of information & broadcasting (MIB) has given its offshoot Viacom18 Media the go-ahead to transfer its non-news and current affairs TV channel licences to the Walt Disney owned Star India.
The ministry issued the clearance on 27 September, stating that it is subject to complying of conditions laid down by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
RIL and the mouse house had on 28 February announced that the two giants were “setting up a strategic joint venture to bring together the most compelling and engaging brands in India.”
The transaction had valued the joint venture at Rs 70,352 crore, with RIL pumping Rs 11,500 crore into it.
The two had also agreed to merge Viacom 18 Media's assets with Star India with the transfer and vesting of the Media Operations Undertaking from Viacom 18 and Jio Cinema into Digital 18, a subsidiary of Viacom 18.
RIL owns a clutch of channels including the Colors and Sports 18 brands through Viacom18 as well as the OTT platform JioCinema whereas Star operates market leader Star Plus, several regional language channels and the OTT service Hotstar.
Under the finalised deal, RIL and its affiliates will hold a 63.16 per cent stake in the newly formed entity, which will manage two streaming services and 120 television channels. The Walt Disney Company will retain the remaining 36.84 per cent stake.
Permissions for the initiative got the CCI green signal, subject to certain conditions, on 28 August, while the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) gave its clearance on 30 August for the two to merge, subject to clearance for the transfer of licences by the MIB.
Post the merger, RIL director Nita Ambani will be appointed as the chair person of the new entity with Uday Shankar being the vice-chairman.
