Reliance & Disney Mulling 2-Year Ad Rate Freeze Proposal For CCI Nod

In an effort to secure the Competition Commission of India’s nod for their proposed Star India and Viacom18 merger, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Walt Disney are reportedly planning to propose to the anti-trust watchdog that they will put in place a two-year freeze on advertising rate cards.

“The proposal being discussed internally is to provide a two-year price freeze on ad rate cards to all advertisers and agencies,” ET reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Another source told the same publication that “both sides are confident that the merger deal will cross the CCI hurdle. Price freeze on ad rate cards has the potential to allay CCI’s concerns of the merger’s impact on competition.”

Inc42 has reached out to Reliance Industries on the development. The story will be updated based on its response.

However, Walt Disney declined to comment.

The deal was made official in February this year, in which Reliance Industries and Walt Disney Company were to set up a joint venture (JV), resulting in the merger of the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India Pvt Ltd.

The deal values the JV at $8.5 Bn on a post-money basis, and the JV will be controlled by RIL, owning 16.34%, while Viacom18 and Disney will be holding 46.82% and 36.84% of the company’s stakes, respectively.

The merger is expected to be completed between October and December 2024, or in the initial four months of the following year.

However, the competition watchdog, recently, raised preliminary concerns that the $8.5 Bn India merger would harm 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.

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