Amazon to bring BBC shows to India as battle with Ambani heats up

By Chris Kay
 

Amazon.com Inc. will start streaming BBC shows in India, opening up a new front in an intensifying entertainment war with the likes of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, in one of the world’s largest media markets.
 

From Thursday, Amazon’s India-based Prime Video members will be able to watch popular British mainstays including The Great British Bakeoff and Strictly Come Dancing on BBC Player, as well BBC Kids, through annual bolt-on subscriptions at 599 rupees ($7.3), the companies said in a joint statement, without elaborating on details of the deal.

The agreement allows Indians to access BBC’s wide range of entertainment, documentaries and reality shows for the first time without having to resort to virtual private networks to disguise IP addresses. It also represents a concerted challenge by Amazon against Ambani’s JioCinema platform, which recently bagged multi-year contracts to show HBO and  Max Original content, as well as the hugely popular Indian Premier League cricket tournament.

The BBC addition will help Amazon — which has a large portfolio of original Indian-made entertainment — compete with Netflix Inc., which offers Indian subscribers a wider amount of worldwide films and shows, according to Karan Taurani, a Mumbai-based media analyst at Elara Securities. 

Fragmented Market

Prime Video and Netflix held an aggregate 10% share of India’s premium streaming market by viewing minutes, according to a May report from consultancy Media Partners Asia.

“This will provide some scale and growth for Amazon,” said Taurani. “These kind of partnerships are the way ahead — rather than them launching their own platform in a market like India, which is already fragmented.”

India is a key growth market for Amazon. But its expansion has been rocky and the firm has faced antitrust challenges and legal battles, including allegations that its shows have hurt religious sentiment and that its retail arm undercuts India’s mom-and-pop stores. 

In April, Amazon announced that it would partner with India’s government to stream movies and TV shows from state-run studios, as well as provide internships to students from government film institutes. The tie up comes before national elections next year where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to win a third term in office.

New Delhi also has a testy relationship with the British broadcaster. Earlier this year, tax authorities raided the BBC’s offices after it aired a documentary critical of Modi’s alleged role in deadly riots more than two decades ago in his home state of Gujarat.