India’s Reliance Industries in talks to buy Tata Play stake from Disney

Indian oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries is in talks to buy a 29.8% stake in subscription-based satellite TV and video streaming service provider Tata Play from Walt Disney, Business Standard newspaper reported on Thursday, citing sources close to the development.

If the negotiations are successful, it would be the first collaboration between the Tata Group and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate, allowing Reliance to offer its complete JioCinema content into Tata Play’s offerings for its customers, the report added.

Reliance and Disney did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment, while a spokesperson for Tata Play declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Reliance is close to merging its India media business with Disney with a 51%-54% stake. The deal values the U.S. giant’s Indian operations at $3.5 billion.

Bodhi Tree, a joint venture between James Murdoch and former top Disney executive, Uday Shankar, is also set to take a stake of around 9% in the new merged entity. Disney will hold around 40%.

Tata Sons, the parent company of the Tata Group, currently owns a majority stake of 50.2% in Tata Play. Apart from Disney, the remaining shares are held by Singapore state investment firm Temasek, the report added.