Entertainment giant Disney and Indian conglomerate Reliance are reportedly not willing to give up lucrative broadcasting rights for cricket in order to secure approval from India’s antitrust body for their proposed merger.
Earlier this year, Disney and Reliance agreed to a deal that would see the two companies join together their digital streaming and television assets in India. The move, valued at $8.5 billion, would create a media and entertainment giant that would easily dominate the market.
However, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) expressed concerns about the merger, specifically because the merged entity would be in possession of most of the TV and streaming rights for cricket, the most popular sport in India with an estimated 678 million viewers.
In its warning sent to Disney and Reliance, CCI said that the new company would have to divest some of its cricket broadcasting rights in order to protect the advertisers. However, according to a recent report from Reuters, that isn’t likely.
Disney and Reliance reportedly view cricket broadcasting rights as the key element of their deal and are unwilling to give away any portion of them. Instead, they told CCI that they would commit to keeping advertisement rates reasonable. The two companies previously committed to selling around 10 television channels in an attempt to get early approval.