Walt Disney is reportedly examining options for its television business in India that include an outright sale or a joint venture, sparking speculation Mukesh Ambani or Gautam Adani could throw their hats into the ring.
Disney's India business consist of the streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar and broadcasting via Disney Star (formerly Star India).
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Walt Disney has held discussions with at least one bank about how to expand in India.
The report added that while the talks are in the early stages, it is not clear as to which option will be finally exercised.
It added that Disney Star’s overall revenue for the fiscal year ending September 2023 is anticipated to decline around 20 per cent, coming at just under $ 2 billion.
Hotstar is expected to experience a loss of 8 million to 10 million subscribers in its fiscal third quarter.
In India, Disney competes against Viacom18 which is a joint venture between Reliance Industries and Paramount Global.
The latter is also present in the broadcasting business via channels such as Colors, MTV and VH1.
If Disney is looking at various options for its television business, it would present a big opportunity for Reliance.
The speculation is that Gautam Adani may also be interested in Disney after acquiring NDTV last year.
The conglomerate has set up AMG Media Networks for its foray into the business of publishing, advertising, broadcasting and distribution of content over different types of networks.
AMG Media had acquired 49 per cent in Quintillion Business Media (QBM) Pvt Ltd in March this year. QBM runs the news platform BQ Prime which was earlier called Bloomberg Quint.
In June last year, BCCI had sold the broadcast rights for the 2023-27 cycle of Tata IPL for a Rs 48,390 crore.
While Disney Star had bagged the television rights for the Indian subcontinent for Rs 23,575 crore, Viacom18 got digital rights for Rs 20,500 crore.
JioCinema saw its penetration and viewership jumping as it decided to freely stream the IPL. Reliance subsequently said that it created a world record with 12 crore unique viewers tuned in to watch the rain-impacted final match played on May 29.
