Key Points
Two large media deals in India are giving the likes of Unilever Plc and Procter & Gamble Co. a reason to worry: If entertainment goes the way of telecom and ends up effectively as a duopoly, will it become costlier for large consumer brands to reach 1.4 billion people?..
The first of these two transactions may come as early as Monday and would see Walt Disney Co. enter into a non-bidding agreement with Mukesh Ambani to merge their media businesses in the country..
Although the Sony-Zee accord is mired in doubt ahead of its tight Dec. 21 deadline, its reasonably certain that by this time next year the Indian sports and general entertainment market will have consolidated into two large platforms: Ambanis Viacom18 Media+Disney, and Sony, with or without the Zee merger...
After a merger, Viacom18+Disney will control a third of Hindi general entertainment in northern Indian cities, and more than a quarter of the Tamil market, which has a strong local leader...
Zee investors are no longer sure that Sony will honor the original agreement to make Punit Goenka, who leads the homegrown Indian network founded by his father, the chief of the merged entity..
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