Reliance Industries (RIL) and Lupa Systems, led by media veterans Uday Shankar and James Murdoch, have launched a new alliance for investment in sports and entertainment programming, four months after the two began investigating opportunities.
Bodhi Tree Systems, a platform supported by Lupa Systems and Shankar, announced on Wednesday that it would invest Rs 13,500 crore in Viacom18, a joint venture between RIL’s TV18 and ViacomCBS, now rebranded as Paramount Global.
A subsidiary of RIL, Reliance Projects & Property Management Services, would invest an extra Rs 1,645 crore in the company. According to a statement, the JioCinema app would be transferred to Viacom18 as part of the acquisition, as the company aimed to become a streaming-first major. Colors TV networks are owned and operated by Viacom18.
RIL and Lupa have formed a JV as they prepare to bid for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) media rights for the 2023-2027 seasons. The auction is set to take place in June. Sports18, Viacom18’s sports channel, debuted last week as the company’s first entry into sports broadcasting in India.
According to informed sources, Bodhi Tree Systems, which is coordinating a fund raise with a consortium of investors for the projected Rs 13,500-crore investment in Viacom18, plans to buy a 39 percent stake in Viacom18 from ViacomCBS, which has a 49 percent ownership. RIL, which owns a 51 percent stake in Network18 through TV18, a subsidiary, will keep its investment.
The tender document for the IPL media rights auction has also been picked up by Viacom18, alongside competitors such as Disney-Star, Sony, Zee, and Amazon, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) looks to reap a windfall by setting the combined reserve price for the rights under four packages at nearly Rs 33,000 crore.
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