With the acquisition of Fox for a whooping $52.4 billion, Disney is set to become the largest entertainment company in India.
Once a marginal player in the country, Disney will now have absolute domination in properties like IPL, regional language TV show with assets spanning across broadcasting, digital, film entertainment and sports.
The $52.4 billion all stock deal between Walt Disney Co and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox gives the former unique edge in the world’s fastest growing media market, shaking up the industry sweepstakes in one click of the mouse. As a matter of fact, Star India alone has given a guidance of $500 million in EBIT by 2018 and $1 billion by 2020.
Apart from a very profitable TV broadcasting business under Star India, the deal also gives Disney access to Hotstar, India’s leading over-the-top on-demand service, Fox Star Studios, the motion pictures business and Star Sports.
Additionally, Disney would now own around 30% stake in Tata Sky and around 25% in leading production house Endemol Shine India. Considering that it owns no similar DTH platforms globally, people in the trade are of the belief that Disney will exit the venture soon.
The biggest bonanza though is in broadcasting. The merged company will have close to 77 channels with leading brands across Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam in the general and mass entertainment space.
Disney India currently runs eight channels including kids (4), youth (2), and movie (2) channels, but it doesn’t have a presence in general entertainment categories.
With the recent development, it will add close to 69 channels including leading channels like Star Plus, Star Jalsha, Asianet and more giving Disney a major lead over its peers.
The deal will also add Star Sports network to Disney. Interestingly, Walt Disney is the largest shareholder in ESPN, but it is not run by Disney India.
