Walt Disney has finalised a deal to sell its minority stake in the subscription television broadcaster Tata Play to the Tata Group, according to a report by Bloomberg. The transaction values the satellite TV provider, Tata Play, at about $1 billion. The Tata Group took full control of the platform after buying the 29.8 per cent stake from Disney.
Disney signed a binding agreement in late February to combine its India unit with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media arm, ‘Viacom 18 Media Pvt’, creating an $8.5 billion entertainment juggernaut that will have over 750 million viewers and dominate the media sector in India.
Tata Play was incorporated in 2001 as a joint venture between Tata Group and TFCF Corp., formerly known as Twenty-First Century Fox. The company provides pay television via set-top boxes and over-the-top (OTT) video streaming through its app and has a pan-India footprint of 23 million connections, according to Tata Sons – the holding company of the Tata Group.
Despite a decrease in valuation from its pre-pandemic target of $3 billion to $1 billion, Tata Play remains crucial for the Tata Group as its main consumer-facing business unit in the media and entertainment sector. In 2022, Tata Play filed confidentially for a domestic initial public offering (IPO) but the listing has yet to happen.
Tata Group raised its stake in Tata Play to slightly over 70 per cent after buying out Temasek Holding Pte’s stake earlier this year, according to Bloomberg. Temasek first invested in Tata Sky, as it was known at the time, in 2007.
Tata Play has informed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting about the change in shareholding, complying with regulations governing direct-to-home (DTH) companies, according to a report by The Economic Times. The plans for both Temasek and Disney to exit Tata Play through an IPO were postponed due to market conditions and challenges in the DTH sector, according to the report.
With inputs from Bloomberg
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Published: 22 May 2024, 08:50 PM IST