Disney to sell stake in Tata’s US$1 billion India TV platform: sources

WALT Disney has struck a deal to sell its minority stake in a subscription television broadcaster to Tata Group, people familiar with the matter said, allowing the US media giant to focus on the merger of its Indian unit with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media arm.

The transaction values Tata Play at about US$1 billion, the people said. Tata Group took full control of the TV platform after buying the 29.8 per cent stake from Disney, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

The deal came as the India’s media landscape is going through a major shakeup. Disney signed a binding agreement in late February to combine its India unit with Viacom 18 Media Pvt, creating an US$8.5 billion entertainment giant that will have 750 million viewers and dominate the sector in the world’s populous country.

Tata Play was incorporated in 2001 as a joint venture between Tata Group and TFCF, formerly known as Twenty-First Century Fox. The company provides pay television via set-top boxes and over-the-top video streaming through its app and has a pan-India footprint of 23 million connections, according to Tata Sons’s website. Tata Play in 2022 filed confidentially for a domestic initial public offering, 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’s stake earlier this year, the people said. Temasek first invested in Tata Sky, as it was known at the time, in 2007, according to its website.

Representatives for Tata Group, Disney and Temasek declined to comment.