Masters of content
After the takeover of the Network18 and ETV groups, Mukesh’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has access to broadcasting content that is generated daily by a bouquet of channels in several languages, including English, Hindi, Telugu, Urdu, Bengali and Gujarati. It is a mix of news (mainstream and business) and entertainment (movies, music, soaps and sports). In 2011, it acquired Extramarks Education, which is focussed on school education and digital learning.
Time and again, RIL has publicly said that its objective is to be present in “key domains such as education, health care, security, financial services, government-citizen interfaces and entertainment”. The idea is to allow consumers access “innovative and empowering digital content”, which can ring in a new digital age in the country. Mukesh desires to contribute to, and enhance and expand, the ‘Digital India’ dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Younger brother Anil, too, has taken strides to get hold of content. Initially, he purchased minority, but sizeable, stakes in news channels such as TV Today and Bloomberg TV. Later, he inked deals with international news content generators such as the BBC and Radio Netherlands. His RWorld provides regular and updated international news through the day. However, in the past few years, Anil has focussed on music, movies, sports and other entertainment content.
An agreement with Universal Music enables Anil to allow his consumers to select from 3 lakh tracks. He signed agreements with leading production houses, which were owned by celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks. In 2008, he formed a $1.5 billion joint venture with Spielberg’s Dreamworks to produce 30-35 movies over the next five years. The idea did take off but only a handful of films were produced.
Other tie-ups with global giants such as Warner Home Video and Paramount will supplement Anil’s movie and music libraries. Under the strategic alliance with Warner, he can market and distribute VCDs, CDs and Blu-ray products in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. As a senior manager in the group says, “The exclusive licence… will be advantageous not just for both parties but the movie lovers as well.” Anil is also involved in a movie-restoration project.
Although some of Anil’s moves haven’t been successful so far, he is still gung-ho about indirect content in the form of gaming (zapak.com; a tie-up with Jump Games and Indiagames), social networks (allow consumers to use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), Internet on TV, Microsoft Windows and cloud computing. He hopes to offer these services on the DTH, digital and mobile platforms in the
near future.
Distributors par excellence
Anil has a head start over his elder brother in TV distribution. He is one of the largest DTH players and, recently, he merged Digicable — one of the top four cable MSOs (Multi-System Operators) — with former Reliance Digicom. All the TV distribution services of the group — DTH, cable and Internet Protocol TV — will be merged into the new entity. A couple of years ago, there was news that Anil might sell the DTH business to the Chennai-based Sun Group but the deal did not fructify. The younger brother owns hundreds of screens (movie theatres), although he sold the multiplex business and also runs FM radio stations in almost 50 cities across the country; in 2008, he launched one in Singapore.
Not to be left behind, Mukesh has recently applied for a pan-India cable MSO licence. Experts contend that almost 150 applicants, including Mukesh’s Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJI), may be granted permission for digital cable distribution. There were rumours that RJI wishes to buy a strategic 26 percent stake in one of the four or five largest MSOs; it has an over 1 percent holding in Sameer Manchanda’s Den Networks, the largest cable distribution company in the country.
