Reliance, Disney finalise $8.5B merger of Indian assets; no clarity if JioCinema, Hotstar will merge into JioHotstar

The $8.5 billion merger of Disney and Reliance Industries was completed on Thursday with Nita Ambani taking over as the Chairperson of the joint venture.

Updated on: Nov 15, 2024, 09:12:53 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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Reliance Industries and Walt Disney have completed the $8.5 billion merger of their Indian media assets. The merger was finalised on Thursday, and the two media giants' Indian assets have been split into three divisions, each with its own CEO. (Also read: Delhi techie snags ‘JioHotstar’ domain pre-merger, demands Cambridge education funding for sale to Reliance)

FILE PHOTO: Disney and Reliance logos are seen in this illustration taken, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo (REUTERS)

The Reliance-Disney merger

In a joint release shared by the companies, it was mentioned that the newly formed divisions are entertainment, which houses Reliance's Colors TV channels and Disney's Star; digital, home to online streaming platforms JioCinema and Hotstar; and sports.

The resulting joint venture is controlled by Reliance Industries Limited and owned 16.34% by RIL, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney, according to the release. Nita Ambani will be the Chairperson of the venture, with Uday Shankar taking on the role of the Vice Chairperson.

Former Google executive Kiran Mani, who leads JioCinema, will take charge of the digital organisation. Reuters had reported last month that Disney Hotstar's CEO Sajith Sivanandan resigned from the role as business integration gathered pace for the merger.

Is there a JioHotstar?

It had been earlier reported that JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar may merge as one streaming app called JioHotstar but there is no clarity on that. The release simply says, “The combination of 'Star' and 'Colors' on the television side and 'JioCinema' and 'Hotstar' on the digital front will provide extensive choice of content across entertainment and sports to viewers in India and globally.”

Kevin Vaz, currently the top boss at Reliance's Viacom 18 Media, will lead the entertainment division. Sanjog Gupta, who heads sports at Disney's Indian media operations, will take charge of the merged company's sports division.

The completion of the merger comes after the companies won key approval from India's antitrust regulator in August. This was after they had to assuage regulatory worries about their grip on broadcasting rights for cricket, India's favourite sport.

The merger will create India's biggest entertainment player, with 120 TV channels and two streaming services. Their direct competitors in the field will be Sony, Netflix and Amazon.

(With Reuters inputs)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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