India's Reliance Communications to acquire Digicable

MUMBAI — India's Reliance Communications, led by billionaire Anil Ambani, said Thursday it had agreed to buy cable television distribution firm Digicable in an all-stock deal for an undisclosed sum.The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group (R-ADAG) said in a statement it will merge its Internet television services and broadband services with Digicable.Digicable is India's largest cable television service provider.The new entity will be called Reliance DigiCom and start with a combined subscriber base of 11 million homes, the cellular firm said.Reliance DigiCom will become Asia's largest -- and globally the fifth largest -- firm to offer triple play services in the form of digital TV, ultra high-speed broadband and voice, Reliance Communications said."With this game-changing move, we hope to lead the next revolution in digital home entertainment in India," Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications said.DigiCom plans to offer over 500 digital quality and 100 high-definition channels, IPTV, video-on-demand and gaming services.R-ADAG operated its digital home entertainment services through Reliance Big TV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications.The move to acquire Digicable comes after R-ADAG said last month it signed a deal with the US-based CBS network to launch TV channels across south Asia, in a joint venture with group firm Reliance Broadcast Network.India's direct-to-home market is expanding rapidly, with a potential 43 million customers in India by 2014, a KPMG industry report said, a jump of 80 percent from current levels.The entry of Bharti Airtel and Sun TV over incumbents Tata Sky and Dish TV has intensified competition in the sector. Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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