Bharti Airtel and the Tata Group have mutually terminated discussions to mix their direct-to-home (DTH) companies, Airtel Digital TV and Tata Play, after failing to succeed in a passable settlement, Airtel introduced in a inventory change submitting late Saturday. “After not having the ability to discover a passable decision, the events have mutually determined to terminate the discussions,” Airtel acknowledged.
The talks, first confirmed by Airtel in February following a report by The Financial Occasions, aimed to merge Tata Play, India’s largest DTH supplier, with Bharti Telemedia, a unit of Sunil Mittal’s telecom large. The proposed deal would have united two loss-making DTH operations amid a client shift towards digital streaming platforms.
Sources beforehand indicated that the merger discussions concerned a share swap, with Airtel probably holding a 52-55% stake within the mixed entity, whereas Tata Play shareholders, together with The Walt Disney Co, would retain 45-48%. Each companies have been valued at roughly ₹6,000-7,000 crore every.
Tata Play, previously Tata Sky, is 70% owned by Tata Sons, which acquired a ten% stake from Temasek Holdings in April 2024 for ₹835 crore, valuing the corporate at round $1 billion. Disney holds a minority stake, acquired via its 2019 buy of twenty first Century Fox.
The failed merger would have been the second main consolidation in India’s DTH sector because the 2016 Dish TV-Videocon d2h merger and coincided with the latest formation of JioStar, India’s largest media firm, via the Reliance Industries and Disney merger of Star India and Viacom18.
The termination leaves each corporations to navigate the aggressive DTH market independently as digital platforms proceed to reshape client viewing habits.