Reliance, Disney Merger Will Hurt Rivals, Warns Antitrust Body: Report

Reliance, Disney and the CCI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. All Reuters sources declined to be named as the CCI process is confidential.

Antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India, has reached an initial assessment that the $8.5 billion India merger of Reliance and Walt Disney media assets harms competition due to their power over cricket broadcast rights, four sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

In the biggest setback so far to their planned merger, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has privately told Disney and Reliance its view and asked the companies to explain why an investigation should not be ordered, one of the sources said.

"Cricket is the biggest pain point for the CCI," said one of the sources.