Disney has held talks with Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Sun TV Network owner Kalanithi Maran as well private equity firms to sell its streaming and television business in the country, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
Disney is exploring various possibilities, including selling some of its Indian operations or a mix of assets from the unit, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The discussions are in the very early stages and a deal may not necessarily materialise, Bloomberg said. The report did not mention any potential deal value.
Disney, Sun TV and the Gautam Adani-controlled Adani group did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Disney was exploring options to sell or find a joint venture partner for its India digital and TV business, Reuters reported in July. Disney has faced increasing pressure due to the emergence of Reliance Industries’ streaming platform JioCinema, run by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
Ambani has been marketing his streaming platform by offering free access to the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, digital rights of which were earlier with Disney.
Disney’s India streaming operations, its biggest last year globally by users, posted a loss of $41.5 million on revenue of $390 million for the year to March 2022, its last disclosed results.
Disney is attempting to revive its fortunes in the country by offering free cricket on smartphones, betting that the strategy will boost advertising revenue and offset the impact of a subscriber exodus.
Research firm CLSA has estimated Disney+ Hotstar’s subscriber base shrank by nearly 5 million users in India after it lost the digital rights for IPL.
Reliance’s broadcast venture Viacom18, which runs JioCinema, also struck a deal with Warner Bros in April for HBO and other popular content such as Succession. Several of these top rated shows earlier aired in India on the Disney platform.
Viacom18’s shareholders include Reliance, Paramount Global as well as Bodhi Tree, which is a joint venture between James Murdoch and a former Star India executive, Uday Shankar.
Disney’s India business comprises the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service and Star India, which it took over when it acquired the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019.
Star India, which was rebranded as Disney Star last year, encompasses dozens of TV channels and a stake in a movie production company.
Disney, like its peers in streaming and the wider media industry, is cutting costs as macro economic headwinds weigh on its advertising revenue and subscriber growth.
In February, the company said it would cut 7,000 jobs as part of an effort to save $5.5 billion in costs in a sweeping restructuring of the company.