Its almost curtains for Anil Ambani’s media business after the sale of the TV assets to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) and the offloading of 49% stake in FM radio business to Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL). Both companies are promoted by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group.
ZMCL also has the option to buy out the remaining 51% stake in Ambani’s radio company after the three-year lock-in period. The total consideration of the transaction is valued at Rs 1,592 crore (Rs 15.92 billion).
For the TV broadcasting business consisting of two entertainment channels Big Magic and Big Ganga, the price consideration is Rs 298.4 crore. ZEEL will pay the consideration by assuming debt of the demerged entities (around Rs 295 crore) and issuing 6% unlisted preference shares (aggregating to Rs 3.95 crore) redeemable within three years. The accumulated loss of Reliance’s TV business stood at Rs 650 crore, as of 31 March 2016.
Proceeds from the stake sale will be used to reduce debt. Said Reliance Capital ED and Group CEO Sam Ghosh, “We are happy to bring in Zee Media as a partner in the radio business and divest 100% of general entertainment TV business to Zee Entertainment. This transaction is part of our strategy to reduce exposure in non-core business of media and entertainment and work towards further reducing our debt under Reliance Capital.”
Saddled with huge debt, the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) has been looking to exit non-core businesses like media. It has already scaled down its film production business housed under Reliance Entertainment.
The group’s telecom arm Reliance Communications is also planning to hive off its direct-to-home (DTH) business Reliance Digital TV, which has not seen any subscriber addition for three straight quarters. Reliance Digital TV’s subscriber base has remained stuck at 5 million.
The TV broadcasting business had suffered its first serious jolt when foreign partners CBS and RTL had called off their respective joint ventures in 2015 with the company.
First American broadcast network CBS walked out of the equal JV with RBNL in January 2014. Europe’s RTL followed suit by exiting the Big–RTL JV in July the same year.
While the channels operated under the JV with CBS were shut down, the one operated with RTL was rebranded as a male-focused youth channel called Big Thrill.
Following the end of Big CBS JV, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd delisted from the stock exchange.
The group’s media and entertainment footprint is limited to film and TV production, games and new media/internet.
Reliance also operates a news and current affairs channel, BTVi, which is not part of the transaction with Zee. Ambani is looking to dilute stake in this company.
The other companies include films and entertainment services company Reliance MediaWorks, game developer Reliance Games and film production company Reliance Entertainment.
In films, Reliance Entertainment has formed an equal JV with Phantom Films. For international film business, it has partnered Hollywood director Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks to form Amblin Partners, which is into film, television and digital content creation.
In film and media services, Reliance MediaWorks has joined hands with Prime Focus Ltd (PFL) to create the world’s largest and most integrated media services group with over 5,500 professionals across 20 locations offering visual effects, stereo 3D conversion, animation and cloud-based digital media solutions that transcend the film, advertising and television industries.
In September 2015, Reliance Games sold 10% stake in its mobile gaming company Zapak Mobile Games to Lead Eastern Group of China for $15 million to create and market mobile games globally.
Separately, it also formed a JV with Lead Eastern Investment and Creative Cultural of Hong Kong to create, operate and market mobile games based on intellectual properties owned and acquired by Zapak.
Reliance Entertainment recently invested in a new digital media company – FUNONGO which launched its first multilingual all-in-one entertainment App ‘Chillx’. It also owns a subscription-based movie streaming service called Big Flix
http://www.televisionpost.com/television/the-shrinking-footprint-of-anil-ambanis-me-business/
ZMCL also has the option to buy out the remaining 51% stake in Ambani’s radio company after the three-year lock-in period. The total consideration of the transaction is valued at Rs 1,592 crore (Rs 15.92 billion).
For the TV broadcasting business consisting of two entertainment channels Big Magic and Big Ganga, the price consideration is Rs 298.4 crore. ZEEL will pay the consideration by assuming debt of the demerged entities (around Rs 295 crore) and issuing 6% unlisted preference shares (aggregating to Rs 3.95 crore) redeemable within three years. The accumulated loss of Reliance’s TV business stood at Rs 650 crore, as of 31 March 2016.
Proceeds from the stake sale will be used to reduce debt. Said Reliance Capital ED and Group CEO Sam Ghosh, “We are happy to bring in Zee Media as a partner in the radio business and divest 100% of general entertainment TV business to Zee Entertainment. This transaction is part of our strategy to reduce exposure in non-core business of media and entertainment and work towards further reducing our debt under Reliance Capital.”
Saddled with huge debt, the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) has been looking to exit non-core businesses like media. It has already scaled down its film production business housed under Reliance Entertainment.
The group’s telecom arm Reliance Communications is also planning to hive off its direct-to-home (DTH) business Reliance Digital TV, which has not seen any subscriber addition for three straight quarters. Reliance Digital TV’s subscriber base has remained stuck at 5 million.
The TV broadcasting business had suffered its first serious jolt when foreign partners CBS and RTL had called off their respective joint ventures in 2015 with the company.
First American broadcast network CBS walked out of the equal JV with RBNL in January 2014. Europe’s RTL followed suit by exiting the Big–RTL JV in July the same year.
While the channels operated under the JV with CBS were shut down, the one operated with RTL was rebranded as a male-focused youth channel called Big Thrill.
Following the end of Big CBS JV, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd delisted from the stock exchange.
The group’s media and entertainment footprint is limited to film and TV production, games and new media/internet.
Reliance also operates a news and current affairs channel, BTVi, which is not part of the transaction with Zee. Ambani is looking to dilute stake in this company.
The other companies include films and entertainment services company Reliance MediaWorks, game developer Reliance Games and film production company Reliance Entertainment.
In films, Reliance Entertainment has formed an equal JV with Phantom Films. For international film business, it has partnered Hollywood director Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks to form Amblin Partners, which is into film, television and digital content creation.
In film and media services, Reliance MediaWorks has joined hands with Prime Focus Ltd (PFL) to create the world’s largest and most integrated media services group with over 5,500 professionals across 20 locations offering visual effects, stereo 3D conversion, animation and cloud-based digital media solutions that transcend the film, advertising and television industries.
In September 2015, Reliance Games sold 10% stake in its mobile gaming company Zapak Mobile Games to Lead Eastern Group of China for $15 million to create and market mobile games globally.
Separately, it also formed a JV with Lead Eastern Investment and Creative Cultural of Hong Kong to create, operate and market mobile games based on intellectual properties owned and acquired by Zapak.
Reliance Entertainment recently invested in a new digital media company – FUNONGO which launched its first multilingual all-in-one entertainment App ‘Chillx’. It also owns a subscription-based movie streaming service called Big Flix
http://www.televisionpost.com/television/the-shrinking-footprint-of-anil-ambanis-me-business/
