Highlight
- Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) reportedly plans to change its streaming services.
- This comes after the planned merger of Star India’s Disney+ Hotstar with JioCinema.
- This move would make RIL dominant in the streaming market in India.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) reportedly plans to change its streaming services. This comes after the planned merger of Star India’s Disney+ Hotstar with JioCinema. Jio might focus on creating a single streaming platform by merging all the platforms into one. Even though Disney+ Hotstar has more users than JioCinema, reports suggest that all the platforms will merge into JioCinema to create a stronger streaming service, according to a report by The Economic Times.
What makes RIL merge these Two Platforms?
Disney+ Hotstar has more users with over 500 million on Google Playstore compared to Jio Cinema with over 100 million downloads. However, RIL believes that two separate platforms would create more expensive and less efficient ones by merging the two separate platforms it would become one of the powerful streaming platforms that could compete with big players like Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video.
RIL and Walt Disney Deals
It is important to note that earlier this year RIL and Walt Disney signed deals to merge Star India and Viacom18, creating a media giant valued at about $8.5 billion. This new company would have over 100 TV channels and two streaming services, but RIL seems to prefer having just one.
The merger is still waiting for approval from regulators like the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). RIL is also ready to shut-downs some TV channels in Hindi and regional markets, to address the concerns about being too dominant in the market
Also Read: Jio Cinema’s New Annual Premium Plan Announcement cost at Rs 299
Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema Merger Impact
The merger of Disney+ Hotstar, owned by Walt Disney’s Star India, and JioCinema, owned by Viacom18 (controlled by RIL), has the potential to create India’s largest streaming service. With Disney+ Hotstar boasting 333 million active users and JioCinema commanding a user base of 225 million, the combined platform would offer a massive audience of over 558 million.
This merger promises to deliver over 125,000 hours of entertainment, sports, and Hollywood content. Importantly, it includes crucial sports rights, such as the IPL, and content from major studios like Disney, HBO, NBCUniversal, and Paramount Global.
Conclusion
This move would make RIL dominant in the streaming market in India. RIL has also made similar platform mergers in the past, such as merging Voot into JioCinema. It’s important to note that JioCinema was transferred to Viacom18 after a court-approved deal that also involved a ₹15,145 crore investment from RIL and Bodhi Tree Systems into Viacom18. However, RIL still controls JioCinema.
