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Antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has raised preliminary concerns that the $8.5 Bn India merger of Reliance and Walt Disney media assets harms competition due to their power over cricket broadcast rights.
As per Reuters’ report, citing sources close to the matter, the CCI has privately told Disney and Reliance its view and asked the companies to explain why an investigation shouldn’t be ordered.
As a result of this deal, unfair rights worth billions of dollars for the broadcast of cricket would be vested with the merged entity which could potentially peril fair pricing power and control over advertisers, the report added.
The CCI earlier privately asked Reliance and Disney around 100 questions related to the merger. The companies have told the watchdog they are willing to sell fewer than 10 television channels to assuage concerns about market power and win an early approval, it further said.
Further CCI’s concerns about the deal can be addressed by offering more concessions, the report added citing another source. However, the antitrust body doesn’t find the concessions offered adequate. As a result, it has purportedly provided 30-day timeframe for these companies to respond and further explain their position.
It is pertinent to note that the two parties are said to be “resisting” any changes to cricket broadcast rights that the CCI flagged this time.
Notably, the two giants have a dominant market share over channels belonging to the regional Indian language portfolio.
(The story is to be updated soon)
The post CCI Warns Reliance-Disney’s $8.5 Bn Merger Will Hurt Competition appeared first on Inc42 Media.
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