Airtel, Tata DTH merger talk fails, Airtel informed BSE: ‘After not being able to find one …’
Bharti Airtel and Tata Group have discussed mutually discussed to combine their direct-to-home (DTH) businesses, Airtel Digital TV And Tata Play, after failing to reach a satisfactory agreement, Airtel announced in stock exchange filing late Saturday night. “After not being able to find a satisfactory resolution, the parties have decided to end the discussion,” Airtel said.
For the first time in February, The Economic Times reported by Airtel aimed to merge the Tata Play, India’s largest DTH provider, with Bharti Telemedia, a unit of Sunil Mittal’s telecom giant, with Bharti Telemedia. The proposed deal would have united two damage DTH operations between a consumer change towards digital streaming platforms.
Sources had earlier indicated that the merger discussion included a share swap, which potentially holds a 52–55% stake in the joint unit, while Tata Walt will maintain 45–48%, including the Disney Company. The value of both businesses is around Rs 6,000-7,000 crore.
The Tata Play, formerly Tata Sky, is 70% owned by Tata Sons, acquired a 10% stake from Temasek Holdings in April 2024, which for 835 crores, evaluates about $ 1 billion to the company. Disney has a minority stake, acquired through the 2019 purchase of the 21st century Fox.
Failure merger 2016’s Dish TV-Vidio D2H will be the second major consolidation in the DTH region of India since the recent formation of India’s largest media company Geostar through Star India and Viacom 18’s Reliance Industries and Disney merger.
The expiration leaves both companies to navigate the competitive DTH market independently as digital platform consumers continue to open the habits of viewing.
