The Competition Commission of India, the country’s competition watchdog, has approved media conglomerate News Corporation’s buy-out of Disney-owned sports broadcaster ESPN’s 50-per-cent stake in pan-Asian sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports.
The regulator ruled that the deal for News Corp to increase its stake in the broadcaster from 50 per cent to 100 per cent would not have an adverse effect on competition in the Indian sports media market due to the number of existing sports broadcasters in the country.
“Considering the presence of other sports channels in India such as DD Sports, Ten Action Plus, Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Golf, Sony Six, Neo Sports Plus, Neo Prime, etc, the proposed combination is not likely to give rise to any adverse competition concern in India,” the watchdog said, according to the Indian Television website.
News Corp’s deal to complete a buy-out of the joint venture was first reported by TV Sports Markets on April 20.