Paramount International has reached a binding settlement to promote its stake in Reliance-controlled Indian media home Viacom18 to Reliance for $517 million, each firms stated Wednesday.
The deal will improve Reliance’s stake in Viacom18, which operates dozens of TV channels in addition to streaming service JioCinema, to 70.49%, Reliance stated in a disclosure (PDF) to an area inventory alternate. Legislation agency JSA Associates stated late final month that it was advising the 2 corporations for the deal.
The transfer follows Disney saying plans to merge its India business with Viacom18 late last month. The 2 corporations stated their merger will create a three way partnership that they worth at $8.5 billion. Viacom18 additionally counts Bodhi Tree, an funding agency run by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, amongst its backers.
The three way partnership stands to seize about 85% of the country’s on-demand streaming service audience and about half of the TV viewers, in accordance with analysts, posing larger challenges to Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, Apple, Sony and Zee.
The merger, which is scheduled to finish by March of 2025, can have unique digital and broadcast rights to a few of the key sporting occasions — together with the following 4 years of fashionable cricket match IPL, flagship ICC occasions, home Indian cricket, FIFA World Cup, Premier League, and Wimbledon.
Paramount will proceed to license its content material to Viacom18, the U.S. leisure agency disclosed in an SEC filing (PDF). Between Disney India’s Hotstar and Viacom18’s JioCinema, the three way partnership will probably be residence to a few of the most wanted content material, together with catalogs from Warner Bros., HBO, NBCUniversal in addition to Disney.
