Reliance Disney merger how the entertainment industry will change

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

The deal was announced in February

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

2 OTT apps and 120 TV channels

The media company formed after the merger will have two streaming services – Disney Hotstar and Jio Cinema. Also there will be great support from 120 TV channels.

Competition from Netflix, Prime Video

In the field of OTT, the new venture will compete directly with players like Sony, Netflix and Prime Video. However, in the field of TV channels, Reliance-Disney can overtake 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 together transform into an OTT platform, then IPL and ICC cricket matches can be enjoyed on the same OTT.

Who has what now?

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

More than 2 lakh hours of content

Jio Cinema and Disney Hotstar together have more than 2 lakh hours of content. Obviously, their coming together will provide convenience to the viewers to watch the content.