NEW DELHI: Disney and Reliance have offered some concessions to secure an India antitrust approval for their $8.5-billion media merger, but are unwilling to sell any cricket broadcast rights, the biggest prize in the deal, two sources familiar with matter said. Reuters reported earlier this week that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) sent a warning notice to the companies expressing concern that their merged entity will have a tight grip on most cricket rights for TV and streaming in India, and can hurt advertisers.
In their response, the companies have offered to go easy on advertising rate hikes and not increase them unreasonably, the sources said.Reliance-Disney are aiming to create India’s biggest entertainment player which will compete with Sony, Netflix and Amazon with 120 TV channels and two streaming services, but cricket is the crown jewel.
Many antitrust experts had said that one way to clear the antitrust hurdle was to sell some cricket rights, be it for some tournaments or broadcast medium like TV, but Disney and Reliance have made a new private submission at the CCI in which they have said they are unwilling to do so, said the two sources, who declined to be named as the process is confidential.
The submissions are being reported for the first time. Reliance, Disney and the CCI did not immediately respond to Reuters queries.
The companies have told the CCI they were willing to commit they are not going to increase advertisement prices for cricket matches in any unreasonable way, said the sources. The first source, however, added the companies have not committed to imposing any price caps or freeze on increasing ad rates for a particular period.