Viacom18, Star India move CCI for merger approval
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) owned Viacom18 and Walt Disney’s Star India have filed a combination notice with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) seeking approval for their merger deal, following the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitting their merger application.
In the May 24 notice, the parties assured CCI that the proposed transaction will not significantly impact competition in India and urged that precise market definitions be kept open.
“The proposed transaction will not cause any appreciable adverse effect on competition in India,” said the notice. “Accordingly, the exact relevant market definitions for evaluating the proposed transaction may be left open.”
On February 28, Star India and Viacom18 agreed to merge operations to form India’s largest media and entertainment business, valued at $8.5 billion. The merger will create a media giant with a combined topline of Rs 25,000 crore based on FY23 numbers.
The parties have stated that the anti-competition watchdog can assess horizontal overlaps in India’s audio-visual (AV) content, advertising space, AV content rights licensing, film production, broadband internet services, and broadcast TV channel distribution for ease of assessment.
They have identified vertical linkages in the proposed transaction in the upstream market for AV content rights licensing and advertising space supply, and the downstream market for provision of AV content and advertisers.
Apart from Star and Viacom18, other parties involved in the transaction are RIL and
