Tata Sons, the parent company of Tata Play, has been cleared by the Competition of Commission of India (CCI) for acquiring an additional 10% stake in the DTH (Direct-to-Home) operator. Tata Play is the largest DTH operator in the country. Tata Sons, has now increased its stake in the company from 60% to 70%. Tata Play has done this by acquring the additional stake from affliliate of Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temsek Holdings, said a Reuters report.
In this deal, Tata Sons has got this 10% from Baytree Investments (Mauritius) Pte. The remaining 30% stake in Tata Play is owned by the American entertainment giant, Walt Disney.
Read More - TV Broadcasters have a New Problem in their Hands
Airtel Digital TV and Tata Play Merger
Bharti Airtel and Tata Sons are in the discussion stage to merge their DTH (Direct-to-Home) entities. The DTH entities after merger would automatically become the largest DTH operator. Note that there's no confirmation on whether this merger will go through. India's DTH services market has been struggling to grow, especially since the arrival of the OTT (over-the-top) platforms.
Read More - TRAI Removes NCF Ceiling for DPOs, Announces Amendments to Boost DTH Sector
Tata Play and Airtel both launched their own OTT aggregation platforms namely Airtel Xstream Play and Tata Play Binge. These platforms can be access for a small fee every month. It will be interesting to see if these OTT platforms also merge after the merger of the JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar.
