Reliance Disney merger how the entertainment industry will change

Reliance-Disney Merger: After the approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the ongoing ‘competition’ between Jio Cinema and Disney Hotstar will now end. In fact, on Wednesday, CCI gave its consent to the merger of media units of Reliance Industries and Walt Disney Company to create the country’s largest media company. That is, Reliance’s ‘Jio Cinema’ and Walt Disney’s ‘Disney Hotstar’ will now become one. Many TV channels can also merge, which are separate till now like Colors and Star Plus. The deal will create the largest media company in the country worth more than Rs 70 thousand crores. But we need to know what is going to change for a common viewer.

The deal was announced in February

The merger of Reliance Industries’ media unit Viacom18 and Walt Disney’s media unit Star India Private Limited (SIPL) was announced in February this year. Reliance and its subsidiaries will have a 63.16 percent stake in the company formed from the deal. At the same time, Walt Disney will have a 36.84 percent stake.

2 OTT apps and 120 TV channels

The media company formed after the merger will have 2 streaming services – Disney Hotstar and Jio Cinema. Along with this, there will be a huge support of 120 TV channels.

Competition with Netflix, Prime Video

In the OTT space, the new venture will compete directly with players like Sony, Netflix and Prime Video. However, in the TV channel space, Reliance-Disney can get ahead of others with 120 channels.

What will change for the general audience

Nothing is going to change immediately for TV and OTT viewers. Changes will come gradually. For example, if Disney Hotstar and Jio Cinema come together to form a single OTT platform, then IPL and ICC cricket matches can be enjoyed on the same OTT platform.

Who has what right now?

Reliance’s Viacom 18 has 40 TV channels. Disney Star has around 80 channels. Disney’s Star India has the TV rights of IPL till 2027, while the OTT rights are with Viacom 18. Both companies have general entertainment channels like Colors, Star Plus. There are sports channels, kids channels.

Over 2 lakh hours of content

Jio Cinema and Disney Hotstar together have a total of more than 2 lakh hours of content. Obviously, their coming together will provide the audience with the convenience of watching content.