Bharti Airtel, the brand of Sunil Mittal, is reportedly set to seal a big deal with Tata Group in the pursuit of Tata Play, the country’s largest DTH service. The available information reports that Tata Play had financial issues of late and this big deal can be considered as strategic advantage for Airtel to position itself significantly in the much slower growth in digital television in past years. The firm is looking to bolster its offering on bundled services, reports suggest, a move that could increase its non-mobile revenue through convergence.
If and when the deal goes through, Tata Group will be withdrawing its business in the content and entertainment space. This will mark the second giant partnership made with each other after Airtel acquired Tata’s consumer mobility business in 2017.
The increase in OTT services, especially among the urban consumers who prefer to have broadband from home, has decreased the DTH users. Rural users are opting for free Doordarshan Free Dish with reduced costs.
Tata Sons owns 70 percent in Tata Play and has bought the balance 10 percent from Singapore’s Temasek for Rs 835 crore, which is $100 million. That is how the valuation of the company has come down from $3 billion pre-pandemic to $1 billion at present. Walt Disney owns the balance 30 percent in Tata Play and has been looking to exit from the TV distribution space. Although Tata had always intended to take Tata Play public and had filed for an initial public offering in 2022, it delayed listing in August. The acquisition by Airtel might go through at a similar valuation to the Temasek deal that was finalized recently.
