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Airtel’s Sunil Mittal welcomes Reliance-Viacom-Disney Hotstar merger
MUMBAI: The merger between Reliance Jio, Viacom18, and Disney Star India has stunned many in the media and entertainment industry, considering its scale and size, creating a media monolith in its wake.
But one person who is taking it in its stride is Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal. In a conversation with CNBC TV18’s Shereen Bhan early this morning he said: “We are a telecommunications company. We are not in the business of content. We welcome the merger.”
What this means is that speculation that Bharti Airtel might hare off and make some acquisitions in the content creation space can well be dustbinned following Reliance’s skilful move of partnering with two global content giants.
Mittal added that Bharti Airtel has been carrying every OTT and broadcaster – Netflix, Star, Hotstar, Prime Video, Jio, MX Player, Aha – for some time now. “We will continue doing so in a non-discriminatory manner,” he revealed.
He, however, ended his statement with a note of caution. “We hope that even they will do so in a non-discriminatory manner,” he said.
Are two Bobs (Iger and Bakish), Nita Ambani and Uday Shankar listening?
