It looks like the Indian media and entertainment scene is about to be reshaped as Disney and Reliance Industries are reportedly moving closer to a merger of their Indian TV and streaming businesses. Clearly, the combination of the two would lead to a joint portfolio of streaming platforms, leading Star pay-TV platforms and over 100 linear TV channels.
As per a report by Variety, the Reuters news agency, quoting unnamed sources, stated how the two companies had appointed lawyers to gauge the potential anti-trust issues they both would like to flag. The news agency reported that a non-binding merger term sheet had been signed by the parties at the end of December. Meanwhile, as of now, neither Reliance Industries nor Disney have given any confirmation on the deal.
Coming to Disney, it turned out to be one of the largest players in the Indian entertainment field after it took over 21st Century Fox. The former Murdoch family-led company included the Star pay-TV platform along with the Hotstar streaming startup. Disney subsequently merged Hotstar into its own Disney+ platform and created Disney+Hotstar with a low price point.
However, Disney’s dominance has faced challenges by the Ambani-controlled Viacom18 group, including its Jio-branded operations that focus on mobile phones, broadband internet and, the streaming service JioCinema.
In 2022, Disney again got a blow in India when it failed to bag the streaming rights for the 2023-2027 seasons of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, which it previously had shown on Hotstar. With roughly $3 billion each, Jio took over the streaming rights, while Disney only got the pay-TV rights. And when Jio streamed the IPL free of charge in 2023, it led to Disney+ Hotstar losing tens of millions of users.
Now Reliance Industries-backed Jio has been already profiting from its Hollywood consolidation since Jio became the new streaming home in India for HBO, Max Original and Warner Bros content, ahead of the launch of HBO Max in India in the near future. The HBO win too was another loss to Disney.
Now if Reliance Industries and Disney happens, it would alter the Indian entertainment and streaming scene for years to come.
