Mumbai: According to a statement issued by Anil Ambani owned RCom on Tuesday, the company is selling its DTHbusiness – Reliance BIG TV Ltd to Pantel Technologies Pvt. Ltd and Veecon Media and Television Ltd.
Pantel Technologies is an information technology and communication devices company with operations in India, South-east Asia, Gulf Cooperation Council and Africa. Veecon Media and Television Ltd is a New-Delhi based company with interests in production, distribution and sale of television content.
As per the deal Pantel Technologies and Veecon Media will acquire the entire shareholding of Reliance BIG TV with business on an “as-is, where-is” basis. The company said the deal has ensured uninterrupted services to its 1.2 million subscribers and continuity of employment for about 500 employees of Reliance BIG TV.
“The transaction will help reduce the liability of unsecured creditors, benefiting all stakeholders, including lenders and shareholders of RCom. The transaction is in consonance with RCom’s stated objective to focus on B2B businesses of the new RCom,” the company said in the statement.
The company, which started in 2008, is currently working on renewing its DTH licence.
Apart from Reliance BIG TV Ltd there are five other private DTH companies namely Zee group-owned Dish TV India Ltd, Tata Sky Ltd, Videocon d2h Ltd, Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd and Bharti Telemedia Ltd. In addition that pub-caster Doordarshan also runs a DTH platform for free-to-air channels called DD Free Dish.
Reliance is the smallest DTH company with a market share of 2% in the 65.31 million DTH subscriber market (as of June 2017), according to a report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Earlier this month, Reliance Communications had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Veecon Media to sell its DTH business. Prior to that, the company had also issued a notice to shut down the business altogether.
RCom’s move comes a year after the initiation of a consolidation process in the DTH industry with Dish TV announcing the merger of its business with Videocon d2h in November 2016.
