Walt Disney is looking into options to sell or find a joint venture partner for its India digital and TV company, according to reports quoting information from sources. 

No prospective partner or buyer has been approached thus far, and it is still unclear how the process would proceed, the individual added. The conversations are in a “very, very nascent” stage.

“Talks have begun internally (on) what makes sense to do,” said the source, adding discussions were being driven by executives at Disney headquarters in the U.S.

There were no comments available from Disney on the issue.

Tuesday’s share price for the corporation increased 1.6%.

Disney had reportedly spoken with at least one bank about methods to support the expansion of the India business while splitting part of the costs, according to The Wall Street Journal, which broke the news of the negotiations first.

The negotiations take place at a time when Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, and Reliance Industries’ JioCinema streaming platform have emerged, putting pressure on Disney. By providing free access to the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, whose digital rights were formerly held by Disney, he has been promoting his streaming business.

After losing the digital rights to the IPL, research company CLSA calculated that Disney+ Hotstar’s subscriber base in India fell by close to 5 million customers.

It will be challenging to find an outright buyer in India, according to the source, who declined to be identified since the negotiations are private, as the enterprise value of the country’s business was estimated to be between $15 and 16 billion when Disney acquired Fox’s operations.

Numerous TV channels are part of Star India, which this year changed its name to Disney Star. It also owns a stake in a film production company.

Disney is reducing expenses along with its streaming competitors and the broader media sector as macroeconomic headwinds affect its ad income and subscriber growth.

The corporation announced in February that it would slash 7,000 employees as part of a massive restructure designed to decrease expenses by $5.5 billion.

(Adapted from TimesNowNews.com)