Reliance Industries, a large Indian conglomerate, is reportedly eyeing a stake in Tata Play, India's largest DTH (Direct-to-Home) service provider. Through its subsidiaries, Jio Platforms and Viacom18, Reliance Industries has already established its media footprint. With a stake in Tata Play, Reliance would get a stronger hold in the media market in the country. According to a Business Standard report, Reliance is negotiating to purchase the 29.8% stake of Disney in Tata Play.
For the unaware, Reliance and Disney have already been in negotiations for a long time to create a new entity where Reliance would have the majority share (51%). Disney, due to non-performance in the Indian market, is looking to merge with Reliance to create a new and very large media business. In this deal, Reliance is looking to get a stake in Tata Play which Disney owns currently.
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Should this happen, Reliance Industries will get a stake in the largest DTH operator in the country, and find itself competing against Airtel in yet another segment - DTH. The report added that the intention to get a stake in Tata Play is to get access to Tata Play's customer base to distribute JioCinema content.
This would be a historic deal if it goes through, as it would be the first time Reliance Industries and the Tata Group will be working together as partners. The majority stake in Tata Play is owned by Tata Sons (50.2%), then Singapore's Temasek owns about 20%, and the remaining stake is with the Disney group.
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Reliance Industries and Disney India merger talks are expected to conclude soon. The exact details would only be out then. The deal is pegging the value of Disney's Indian operations at $3.5 billion USD, against the valuation that Disney intially wanted - $10 billion.
