HBO Original, Max Original and a selection Warner Bros. shows will debut on Reliance JioCinema next month, with streaming occurring simultaneously with the U.S.
JioCinema’s “exclusive” agreement with content comes as the platform has attracted millions of users during the past few months, largely thanks to the free streaming IPL cricket tournaments available for anyone with internet access. In 2022, Viacom18 outbid Disney to secure five years of IPL streaming rights for the Indian subcontinent, at a cost of $3 billion.
Viacom18, a joint venture of Reliance Global, Paramount Global and former Star executives Uday Shakar as well as James Murdoch’s BodhiTree, are among the investors. Earlier this month, Bodhi Tree reduced its planned investment in Viacom18 to $528 million, a 70% decrease from the initial commitment of $1.78 billion. Bodhi is planning to increase their stakes in Viacom18. A source familiar with the situation revealed this.
Reliance, the majority shareholder in Viacom18 announced that it would contribute $1.32 billion to the joint-venture. The original plan called for $216 millions.
Disney suffered a serious blow when it announced the news on Thursday. The Hotstar app gained popularity because of the popularity and HBO premium content. The platform has since lost both the offerings.
Ambani is increasing his efforts to establish JioCinema as a streaming service that dominates India’s otherwise competitive market by securing an agreement with Warner Bros. Ambani’s efforts are evident in the deal that Ambani estimates Viacom18 to cost more than 15 million dollars per year. JioCinema struggled to attract customers, even though it was offered at no extra cost to Jio subscribers.
JioCinema aggressively pursued Hotstar, alongside major investments in recent months. Kevin Vaz was recently appointed Viacom18’s CEO. He is a former Disney executive.
“JioCinema” is now the biggest platform for live sports. We are now on a mission to build the most magnetic destination for entertainment for all Indians,” said Ferzad Palia, Head – SVOD & International Business, Viacom18, in a statement.
“The strategic partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery is a milestone in our quest to deliver the best Hollywood content for our elite audience. Warner Bros., a great company. Discovery sets a global standard for high-quality content. This partnership allows for us to offer the best and most complete destination to our users.”
Analysts predicted that Amazon, which provides several on-demand streaming services in India, would partner with Warner Bros. to offer HBO content to South Asia. Amazon is also currently in advanced stages of deliberations to acquire MX Player, a popular video streaming service in India, TechCrunch reported earlier.
With the new content deal in place, JioCinema is gradually positioning itself to potentially introduce a paid model for accessing select premium content.
Viacom18 has also been a partner in India with deep pockets. The New York-headquartered media giant has scaled back many of its operations in South Asia in recent years, including discontinuing HBO and WB TV channels in India, Pakistan, Maldives and Bangladesh.