Reliance and Disney have announced an official partnership to merge their assets and improve on their digital offerings in India, with ₹11,500 crore pledged as investment in the joint venture. The joint venture will have Nita Ambani as the chairperson, with Uday Shankar as the vice chairperson behind her.
As per the official statement, the businesses of Viacom 18 and Star India will be merged together to form Star India Private Limited. The joint venture will be controlled by Reliance Industries Limited, with a 16% stake, while Viacom 18 will have a 46% stake in contrast to Disney’s 36%.
What Does the Reliance and Disney merger mean?
As of now, Reliance and Viacom 18 have had their sports and media offerings separate. Disney had partnered up with Star Industries to form the content platform now known as Disney Hotstar+, which streams movies, TV shows as well as sports content from across the world.
Channels such as Sports18HD, which famously televised the FIFA World Cup 2022, will now become part of the JV. Entertainment channels such as Colors, Star Plus and Star Gold will now come together to form a lucrative partnership which will see the pair able to distribute the content, whose licences they own collectively after the announcement of the deal.
As a result, we can expect to see a shift in the sports and entertainment broadcast landscape in the coming months. This could entail a rebranding or a complete merger of these streaming platforms to offer fans a better experience.
