On Wednesday, the Competition Commission of India cleared NBC Universal’s acquisition of a stake in BTS Investment 1 Pte Ltd and Bodhi Tree Systems VCC, that are owned by Asia Initiatives Pte Ltd. Asia Initiatives is a three way partnership between James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and former Star India chief government Uday Shankar. Bodhi Tree is a minority shareholder in Reliance Industries-controlled Viacom18, which owns a bouquet of leisure channels.
According to business specialists, Comcast’s funding in Bodhi Tree is a preliminary step in direction of the conglomerate’s bigger ambitions within the Indian market.
“Investment in Bodhi Tree will open the doorways for Comcast in a fast-growing leisure market like India. Comcast is coming into India by means of Bodhi Tree since India is an unfamiliar territory for them,” stated an individual near the event.
“Right now, they’re simply testing the waters,” a veteran media skilled stated, including that the corporate will enhance its investments as soon as it sees the worth creation that occurs within the Viacom18 enterprise.
A portion of the funds from NBC Universal’s funding in BTS Investment and Bodhi Tree Systems shall be used for extra funding in Viacom18.
NBC Universal, which is owned by Comcast, presently has a subsidiary in India named NBC Universal Media Distribution Services Pvt Ltd.
In 2021, the corporate launched DreamWorks and E! channels on the Jio TV app. It additionally operates an ad-free OTT platform known as Hayu in India.
Much earlier than it was acquired by Comcast, NBC Universal had acquired a 26% fairness stake in NDTV for $150 million in 2008. Later, NDTV purchased again the stake. NDTV Networks housed the leisure and life-style channels of NDTV.
Comcast has been seeking to acquire a toehold within the Indian market.
Comcast had reportedly evaluated each Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Star India as potential targets at one level.
Comcast, in partnership with non-public fairness heavyweight Blackstone Group and Lupa Systems CEO James Murdoch, had tried to accumulate a stake in Zee when the media conglomerate was in search of a strategic investor to promote a portion of its stake to repay money owed owed by its promoters. However, the bid was unsuccessful.
The firm was vying for Star India when twenty first Century Fox put a big chunk of its leisure belongings on sale. Eventually, Disney walked away with the twenty first Century Fox belongings, together with Star India.
Comcast needed to stay content material with the acquisition of British media and telecommunications firm Sky.
Industry sources stated Comcast had checked out belongings within the TV distribution house too earlier than it evaluated Zee and Star.
“Initially, it had checked out belongings within the cable TV enterprise, but it surely did not proceed additional on account of an absence of last-mile possession. They additionally evaluated DTH belongings, however that additionally did not yield any outcomes,” a TV broadcast government conscious of the discussions stated.
As per an individual acquainted with the matter, Viacom18 has achieved a valuation of ₹33,000 crore following the injection of funds by Bodhi Tree Systems.
