PARAMOUNT Global agreed to sell its 13 per cent stake in its Indian TV business to its partner, Reliance Industries, for US$517 million.
The deal comes after Reliance and Walt Disney agreed to merge their TV properties in the country last month, in a deal that valued the combined business at US$8.5 billion.
Reliance and Paramount were partners in Viacom 18 Media Private, which owns a number of TV channels in the region. Paramount will continue to license its programming to Viacom 18, according to a filing on Wednesday (Feb 13) by the US company.
Paramount, the parent of CBS, Nickelodeon and other networks, has been looking to reduce its debt by selling noncore assets such as its Simon & Schuster book publishing arm. Bloomberg News reported earlier on the company’s talks to sell its Indian TV stake. BLOOMBERG
