Bharti Airtel on Wednesday confirmed its talks with the Tata Group to explore a deal to merge Tata Play’s direct-to-home (DTH) business with its subsidiary Bharti Telemedia Ltd.
The telecom operator in an exchange filing said, “The above is at a discussion stage only.”
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A recent media report has said the merger would help Airtel gain access to nearly 20 million homes via Tata Play’s connections.
It would lead to service providers clubbing broadband, telecom and DTH plans into a single subscription. The deal would be the second high-stakes agreement in the space after the 2016 merger of Videocon d2h and Dish TV.
The merged entity would likely be run by the senior management of Airtel.
Notably, the Tata Sky began its services in 2004 as a joint venture between Tata Sons and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.
Later in March 2019, the Walt Disney Company purchased 21st Century Fox’s stake in the company. The DTH provider was rechristened as Tata Play in 2022.
For the third quarter (Q3) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25), Bharti Airtel reported an impressive 505% rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 14,781 crore. This was up from Rs 2,442 crore reported during the same period last year.
Sequentially profit soared 311% from Rs 3,593 crore.
