Merger musings

Reliance Industries is making big bets in a sector where it had a minor position until recently

Every time Reliance Industries Ltd, or RIL, makes a move in the media business, you wonder why.

In 2012, it funded the merger of Network 18 (which also owns Viacom18) with Eenadu, a firm it already had. By 2014, it took management control of the resulting entity. In 2022, it brought the James Murdoch and Uday Shankar-owned Bodhi Tree in as an investor into Viacom18 and added JioCinema to the whole bundle. Last year, it bought the digital rights to the Indian Premier League and also licensed HBO’s high-end programming. Late in February this year came the announcement of a merger