At the very outset, it should be mentioned that the speedy clearance for the proposal of combination of The Walt Disney Company (South Asia) and UTV Software Communications Limited is encouraging, despite the apparent staff shortage at the CCI. However, while I find no reason as of now to oppose the merger, the reasoning of the Commission on a certain ground is questionable and does lay some credence to the criticisms leveled against the Commission on the reasoning of its orders.
The Commission seems to have relied heavily on the fact that Disney is primarily an English broadcasting medium whereas UTV is a Hindi broadcasting medium. Such reasoning is unsound and questionable. The language of communication in any merger of broadcasting or media companies is irrelevant. What is relevant is the impact which the merger would have on the entertainment industry, and consequently, the audience as a whole. Assuming hypothetically that the merger would result in dominant position in the media entertainment market for Disney, the language of broadcasting would not matter in case it tried to abuse its dominance. If Disney had to do so, it would do it by asserting itself in the industry as a whole, not in the Hindi or English segment specifically. In other words, the ‘relevant market’ to be determined should not be based on the language of broadcasting but rather the entire broadcasting industry as a whole.
The Order can be found here.
Indian Competition and Anti-Trust Blog 