New Delhi: Reliance Industries are in talks with investors to collect up to $ 1.6 billion for their broadcasting business as its partners, ViaComCBS, seen in her interest in joint ventures, two sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Dependence was to hold talks with investment companies founded by James Murdoch, the son of Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch, and former Disney India Executive Uday Shankar together took important shares in the viacom18 joint venture, one of the sources with direct knowledge.
At present, Reliance holds 51% of the shares in Viacom18, with ViaComCbs holding the rest.
Viacom18 runs several TV channels in India, including Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
If the agreement is realized, dependence will continue to hold the majority shares, while the Viacombbs pegs are likely to decrease to 10%, according to Media India, who first reported the conversation agreement on Thursday.
Reliance, Indian conglomerates run by Indian Richest People Mukesh Ambani, refused to comment, said “the company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis.” ViaComcbs, Murdoch and Shankar did not immediately respond to a comment request.
The discussion came in the midst of competition that developed in the dynamic Indian broadcasting sector.
The Indian Entertainment Unit Sony has plans to buy local rivals Zee, combining TV channels, film assets and streaming platforms to become the dominant business in this sector.
Indians quickly adopt a streaming platform including Netflix Inc.
and Video Prime Amazon.com Inc., which has attracted users with cheaper packages and local language content.
Dependence in talks to collect $ 1.6 BN for JV because Viacom is looking for lower pegs
