Reliance, Disney complete India media merger valued at $8.5B

Reliance and Disney have completed their landmark Indian media merger, creating an $8.5 billion entertainment powerhouse in the country’s streaming and television markets.

The deal, proposed in February, brings together Disney Star with Reliance-controlled Viacom18 under a joint venture that will control about 85% of India’s streaming market and roughly half of television viewership in the South Asian nation, according to analysts.

Reliance, which has agreed to invest $1.4 billion in fresh capital, will control the joint venture, it said in a statement on Thursday. The conglomerate and its subsidiary Viacom18 will hold 63.16% of the venture, with Disney retaining the rest.

The deal marks a significant retreat by Disney from the direct control of one of its most important international markets.

“By joining forces with Reliance, we are able to expand our presence in this important media market and deliver viewers an even more robust portfolio of entertainment, sports content, and digital services,” Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, said in a statement.

The merged group will be India’s largest, with annual revenue of $3.1 billion. It combines streaming platforms JioCinema and Hotstar with more than 100 television channels, serving more than 50 million streaming subscribers, and will produce 30,000 hours of television content annually.

Reliance didn’t detail how it plans to integrate Hotstar and JioCinema and when those integrations will be live.

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“With the formation of this JV, the Indian media and entertainment industry is entering a transformational era,” said Reliance’s managing director, Mukesh Ambani, in a statement. “Our deep creative expertise and relationship with Disney, along with our unmatched understanding of the Indian consumer, will ensure unparalleled content choices at affordable prices for Indian viewers. I am very excited about the JV’s future and wish it all the success.”

The joint venture also consolidates control of India’s most valuable media rights, including cricket properties such as the Indian Premier League, ICC tournaments, and domestic cricket, alongside global sports content like the FIFA World Cup and Premier League. Viacom18 has also signed deals with Warner Bros and NBCUniversal to license much of their catalogs for the Indian market.

Nita Ambani, Mukesh Ambani’s wife and a director at Reliance, will chair the venture, with media veteran Uday Shankar serving as vice chair. The leadership includes Kevin Vaz as head of entertainment, Kiran Mani leading digital operations, and Sanjog Gupta overseeing sports content.

Shankar is returning to Star India, which he led as CEO before leaving in 2020 following disagreements with Disney. Shankar later partnered with James Murdoch to launch Bodhi Tree Systems, a Qatar Investment Authority-backed media investment firm that injected over $525 million into Viacom18. Bodhi Tree owns roughly 16% of Viacom18.