Reliance Industries (RIL), Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Company have completed the merger that creates an US$8.5-billion/Rs70,352 crore Indian mega-platform housing some of India’s best known media brands – Star, Colors, JioCinema and Hotstar.

The new JV is controlled by RIL and owned 16.34% by RIL, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney.

Reliance has invested Rs11,500 crore/US$1.4 billion growth capital in the venture, which it will operate with Nita Ambani as chairperson and Uday Shankar as vice chairman. 

The new company, which will operate in three units (entertainment, digital and sports) offers more than 100 TV channels and has an annual production output of approx 30,000 hours of TV content a year. The JioCinema and Hotstar digital platforms have an aggregate subscription base of over 50m.  

The companies said in the announcement on 14 Nov that the JV was “ready to lead the transformation of India’s digital streaming eco-system and grow the linear TV space across entertainment and sports”. 

The JV will be one of the largest media and entertainment companies in India with pro forma combined revenue of approximately US$3.1 billion for the fiscal year ended in March 2024. 

The Competition Commission of India approved the transaction on 27 August 2024, subject to the compliance with certain voluntary modifications Apart from the CCI, the transaction has been approved by anti-trust authorities in the EU, China, Turkey, Korea and Ukraine.

“With the formation of this JV, the Indian media and entertainment industry is entering a transformational era,” Mukesh Ambani, RIL chairman/MD, said. 

The JV will be spearheaded by three CEOs – Kevin Vaz will head the entertainment organisation across platforms. Kiran Mani will take charge of the combined digital organisation, and Sanjog Gupta will lead the combined sports organisation. 

In a separate transaction, RIL has bought out Paramount Global’s entire stake of 13.01% in Viacom18 for Rs4,286 crore/US$507.8 million. As a result, Viacom18 is now owned 70.49% by RIL, 13.54% by Network18 Media & Investments and 15.97% by Bodhi Tree Systems, on a fully-diluted basis.