As Comcast, Disney face possible Fox bidding war, spotlight on Star India

As Walt Disney Co and Comcast Corp gear up for a possible bidding war over a big chunk of 21st Century Fox, both companies are interested in Fox’s marquee Hollywood franchises like “The Simpsons,” “Avatar” and “X-Men.”

But among the most desired assets is Indian media conglomerate Star India, which is fully owned by Fox, people familiar with the situation said.

Comcast and Disney, neither of which has a big presence in India, each view Star India as an important piece in their plans to challenge Netflix Inc. and tap growth in emerging markets, the people said.

Star India reaches 700 million customers a month, with 60 channels in nine different languages; owns rights to air popular cricket tournaments; and has a stake in a production company that makes Bollywood movies.

Perhaps its biggest selling point now is Hotstar, a mobile-first streaming service that features its content and has 150 million active monthly users.

Around 80% of the content is free on Hotstar, with the company charging as little as 199 rupees ($2.95) a month for Hollywood movies and shows or Rs 299 for a year of live sports. The service, which also is available in the U.S. and Canada, has benefited from an explosion of mobile data usage by Indian consumers as prices have fallen in the past two years.

“Hotstar is setting the agenda for the future,” Star India Chief Executive Uday Shankar said.

Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson estimated Star will make earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $826 million by 2020, a 91% jump from this fiscal year. Fox, which had $7.17 billion in adjusted operating income on $28.5 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, has said it believes Star will earn $1 billion in Ebitda by 2020.

Mumbai-based brokerage Edelweiss Securities pegged Star’s value at $14.3 billion as of 2016.

Disney in December reached a $52.4 billion all-stock deal with 21st Century Fox. Cable giant Comcast said last month that it is in the advanced stages of preparing a rival, all-cash bid.

The assets for sale include the Twentieth Century Fox film and television studio, various cable networks and Fox’s stake in the streaming service Hulu. But among the most compelling assets—especially for Comcast—are the international ones, Star India and Fox’s interest in European pay-TV operator Sky PLC.

21st Century Fox and Wall Street Journal-parent News Corp share common ownership.

Buying Star would come with some risks. Sports rights deals, if they follow the course of the U.S. and Europe, could become much more expensive upon renewal. And there could be new competition from the telecom companies driving India’s wireless data boom, including Jio, as they start offering their users content.

While user cancellations of cable and satellite TV service are plaguing the U.S. pay-TV industry, “in India, cord-cutting is absolutely a nonissue” and pay-TV is still expanding, said Abneesh Roy, senior vice president of research at Mumbai-based Edelweiss Capital Ltd.

Over the past 10 years, Star India CEO Mr. Shankar has expanded Star’s distribution. It now reaches nine out of 10 Indian homes.

Star’s programming includes everything from prime-time soaps to dance competitions and highlights of international sports events. It has worked to add content in languages other than Hindi and English. As the economy grew, people who spoke regional dialects had more purchasing power and more appeal for advertisers. “Not plugging into that change would have been a loss of opportunity,” Mr. Shankar said.

It agreed last year to acquire the global TV and digital rights to India’s wildly popular annual cricket competition, the Indian Premier League, in a deal valued at $2.42 billion at current conversion rates. Star fended off a bid by Facebook Inc. for the digital rights.

Last month, 160 million people watched the final on Star TV networks and 51 million watched it on Hotstar, up from 121 million on TV and 21.6 million on Hotstar a year before.

Hotstar is geared to run on mobile devices, targeting the many people who rely on cellphones for entertainment.

Avadh Narayan, a 26-year-old construction worker in Mumbai, doesn’t have a television but uses his mobile phone to watch Hotstar. “TV is not available everywhere,” he said. “So it’s easy to watch your favorite match wherever you want.”

The service is second to YouTube for streaming-video iPhone and Android downloads in India, according to analytics company App Annie.

“In this country, for many people, their first experience of screen is with a mobile screen,” Mr. Shankar said.

Source: The Wall Street Journal