\n\tMUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani's Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries has said it will acquire a majority stake in Network18—which counts Viacom and CNN among its local partners—for about $680 million.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe deal will be conducted through the Reliance subsidiary Independent Media Trust (IMT). Once completed, IMT will own around 78 percent of Network18, which operates Colors and several other channels with Viacom, and has joint ventures with CNN and CNBC, among others. IMT will also acquire 9 percent of the Network18 subsidiary TV18, which has a joint venture with A+E Networks for channels in India.<\/p>\n
\tThis is the first major move into the entertainment business for Reliance Industries. Mukesh's brother Anil Ambani leads the Reliance Group, whose assets include Reliance Entertainment, which is DreamWorks' financing partner and is active in DTH broadcasting and channels in India. Reliance Industries' association with Network18 dates back to 2012, when it made a minority investment in the company, founded by Raghav Bahl<\/p>\n
\tFor Reliance Industries, the deal gives the company access to a wide range of content for its planned 4G broadband service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani's Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries has said it will acquire a majority stake in Network18—which counts Viacom and CNN among its local partners—for about $680 million. The deal will be conducted through the Reliance subsidiary Independent Media Trust (IMT). Once completed, IMT will own around 78 percent of Network18, which operates Colors and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n