Draft:JioStar

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JioStar
JioStar India Private Limited
Company typeIndian Private Company
IndustryIndian Media conglomerate
Predecessor
Founded14 November 2024; 9 months ago (2024-11-14)
HeadquartersMumbai, Maharashtra, India
Area served
India only
Key people
ServicesTelevision broadcasting
Film
Streaming
Revenue₹110.32 billion (US$1.3 billion)
Parent
Divisions
  • Entertainment
  • Digital
  • Sports
Websitewww.jiostar.com

JioStar, registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate. It is a joint venture between Reliance Industries, it's subsidiary Network18 Group, and Disney India.[1][2] JioStar was formed on 14 November 2024, through the merger of Viacom18 with Disney Star (a subsidiary of Disney India).[3] The deal, valued at $8.5 billion, involved the investment of ₹11,000 crore (US$1.3 billion) by Reliance Industries, which left Reliance Industries with a 16.34 percent stake, Viacom18 with 46.82 percent, and Disney India with 36.84 percent.[4]

Background

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Disney Star

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Further information: Disney Star

1990: Hutchison Whampoa and Li Ka-shing launched Satellite Television Asian Region (STAR) as a joint venture.[5]

1992: Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired 63.6% stake in Star for $525 million.[6]

1993: News Corporation purchased the remaining stake.[7]

2001: Star India acquired South India based Vijay TV.[8]

2008: News Corporation and Star India established Fox Star Studios.[9]

2009: Star India acquired Kerala-based media conglomerate Asianet Communications, which served Malayalam language content.[10]

2015: Star India launched the Hotstar streaming service.[11] Star also acquired the broadcast businesses of Maa Television Pvt. Ltd to boost its presence in Telugu-speaking markets.[12]

2019: The Walt Disney Company acquired Star India's parent company 21st Century Fox. Star India became a subsidiary of Disney India.[13]

2020: The Walt Disney Company merged Hotstar in India with Disney+ to form Disney+ Hotstar.[14]

2022: Disney India rebranded Star India to Disney Star.[15] Fox Star Studios was rebranded to Star Studios.[16]

Viacom18

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Further information: Viacom18

2007: Viacom18 was founded as a joint venture between TV18 and Viacom Inc.[17]

2010: Viacom18 formed a 50/50 joint venture with Sun Network called Sun 18 for distribution.[18]

2014: TV18 acquired the non-Telugu TV assets of ETV Network and was permitted to use the ETV brand name.[19]

2015: Viacom18 rebranded ETV’s non-Telugu regional channels to Colors Marathi, Colors Gujarati, Colors Kannada, Colors Bangla, and Colors Odia.[20]

2018: TV18 acquired majority operational control by buying most of Viacom’s stake, leaving Viacom with a minority interest.[21]

2022: Bodhi Tree Systems and Reliance entered an agreement to invest $1.8 billion in Viacom18, and JioCinema was integrated under Viacom18.[22]

2023: Bodhi Tree acquired a 15.97% stake in Viacom18.[23]

2024: Viacom (now Paramount Global), fully sold its remaining 13.01% stake in Viacom18 to Reliance Industries. The deal was valued at approximately ₹4,286 crore ($517 million).[24]

History

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Formation and beginning of Operations (2023-2024)

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In July 2023, The Walt Disney Company began exploring strategic options, including a sale or formation of a joint venture, for their businesses in India.[25] Between September and October 2023, the company held preliminary talks with Reliance Industries, billionaire Gautam Adani and Kalanithi Maran, owner of the Sun Group, for a potential sale of its streaming and linear television assets.[26][27] In late October 2023, it was reported that Disney was nearing a cash and stock deal with Reliance Industries for the sale of its operations in India, including a controlling stake in Star India. The assets Reliance would acquire were reportedly valued at around $7–8 billion and a transaction was to be announced as early as November 2023.[28] Although Disney CEO Bob Iger refuted claims of a sale during a third-quarter earnings call, it was announced in December 2023 that Disney and Reliance had signed a non-binding term sheet for a merger. According to the terms, Reliance would hold 51% of the merged company in cash and stock, while Disney would own the remaining 49%. For purposes of the merger, a subsidiary of Viacom18 was created to absorb Star India through a stock swap,[29] pending ratification and regulatory approval.[30][31][32][33] In February 2024, Disney and Reliance reached a deal to merge their streaming and television assets, with the joint venture valued at $8.5 billion including synergies. As part of the deal, Viacom18 would be merged into Star India with Disney holding a 36.84% stake in the combined entity, which would bring together assets such as linear television entertainment channels StarPlus, Colors TV and the Star Gold Network, sports channels Star Sports and Sports18 and the streaming services JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar with Nita Ambani serving as the chairperson of the joint venture, with Uday Shankar serving as vice chairperson with the deal giving 16.34% to Reliance and 46.82% to Viacom18, with the deal being expected to close sometime in late 2024 or early 2025 pending regulatory approval.[29][34][35] In March 2024, it was reported that Paramount Global was looking to sell its 13.01% stake in Viacom18 to Reliance, which already owned a 73.91% share via TV18.[36] Although Bloomberg News reported that the deal was unlikely to close, the deal was confirmed a week later for $517 million, its closure subject to regulatory approval and the completion of the joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney. Paramount would, however, continue to license its content to the company.[37] In August 2024, the National Company Law Tribunal approved a deal between Disney and Reliance Industries where JioCinema and Viacom18 would be merged into Digital18.[38] In November 2024, Disney and Reliance Industries agreed to merge Star India and Viacom18. The deal was reported to be valued at $8.5 billion.[39]

Launch of JioHotstar, growth (2025-present)

On 14 February, 2025 JioStar combined the streaming services JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar to launch JioHotstar.[40]

On 6 August, 2025 it was reported that JioStar has acquired the exclusive broadcast and streaming rights for the US Open Tennis Championships for the next five years.[41]

Assets

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The company has 3 divisions: Entertainment, Digital, and Sports.[42]

Digital[43]

This division is headed by Kiran Mani. It consists of the JioHotstar streaming service.

Sports[43]

This division is headed by Ishan Chatterjee. It handles the sports channels on air, including Star Sports and Star Sports Select, and all sports related business on streaming.

Entertainment[43]

This division consists of Star Studio18 and the various Star and Colors branded TV channels. It is headed by Kevin Vaj.

Leadership

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Board of Directors[44] [45]

  • Nita M. Ambani, Chairperson
  • Uday Shankar, Vice Chairperson
  • NP Singh, Independent Director
  • Bharat N. Anand, Independent Director

Executives[46]

• Kevin Vaz, CEO – Entertainment

• Kiran Mani, CEO – Digital

• Ishan Chatterjee, CEO – Sports

• Alok Jain, Head of Cluster, Entertainment

• Sumanta Bose, Head of Cluster, Star Plus & Regional Channels

• Krishnan Kutty, Head of Cluster, Entertainment South

• Mahesh Shetty, Head of Entertainment Revenue

• Piyush Goyal, Head of TV Distribution

• Sushant Sreeram, Head of Marketing

• Ambuj Kashyap, Strategic Initiatives

• Rasesh Upadhyay, Business Strategy

• Gaurav Gokhale, Digital Operations

• Bharat Ram, Product Development

• Akash Saxena, Chief Technical & Product Officer

• Shoury Bharadwaj, Head of Engineering

• Vijay Seshadri, Chief Architect

• Rishi Gaind, Head of Human Resources

• George Cherian, Head of Corporate Communications & PR

• Rajat Nigam, Transition Head of IT and Media Operations

• Mukesh Mundhra, Transition Finance Head

• Mani Rangarajan, Financial Integration (Transition)

• Kshipra Jatana, Transition Legal Head

References

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  1. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (14 November 2024). "Disney-Reliance $8.5 Billion Media Merger Closes, Creating Indian Entertainment Powerhouse". Variety. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  2. ^ "Reliance, Walt Disney close $8.5 billion merger of Indian media assets". Reuters. 14 November 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  3. ^ "Reliance, Disney and Viacom18 complete ₹70,352 crore media merger; Nita Ambani named chairperson - CNBC TV18". CNBCTV18. 14 November 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  4. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (14 November 2024). "Disney-Reliance $8.5 Billion Media Merger Closes, Creating Indian Entertainment Powerhouse". Variety. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  5. ^ www.globalmediajournal.com https://web.archive.org/web/20210125211708/https://www.globalmediajournal.com/open-access/the-role-of-the-nationstate-evolution-of-star-tv-in-china-and-india.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ Palmer, Rhonda (27 July 1993). "Murdoch catches rising Star". Variety. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  7. ^ "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Star TV Extends Murdoch's Reach (Published 1993)". 23 August 1993. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  8. ^ "Vijay TV scripts a turnaround tale". Indian Television Dot Com. 30 April 2005. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  9. ^ Ramnath, Nandini (2 December 2012). "Consumer". www.livemint.com/. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  10. ^ VCC, Team. "Star buys majority in Asianet; forms JV with Rajeev Chandrasekhar". IN. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  11. ^ Malvania, Urvi. "10 million users in 40 days: Hotstar takes digital media world by storm". Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  12. ^ Reporter, BS. "STAR India acquires MAA TV's broadcast business for Rs 2.5k cr". Archived from the original on 3 November 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  13. ^ Schwartz, Matthew S. (20 March 2019). "Disney Officially Owns 21st Century Fox". NPR. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  14. ^ Frater, Patrick (5 February 2020). "Disney Plus To Launch on India's Hotstar". Variety. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Star India is Now Disney Star". TelecomTalk. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  16. ^ PTI (27 May 2022). "Fox Star Studios rebrands to Star Studios". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  17. ^ Press, The Associated (23 May 2007). "Viacom, TV18 launch joint venture in India". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  18. ^ Mumbai, afaqs!. "Network18 and Sun form distribution alliance, Sun18". www.afaqs.com. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  19. ^ archive, From our online (16 May 2012). "Network18 acquires ETV Channels". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  20. ^ Raghavendra, Nandini (5 March 2015). "Viacom 18 to license its brand Colors to five ETV regional channels". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  21. ^ Frater, Patrick (1 February 2018). "TV18 Buys Control of Viacom Joint Venture in India". Variety. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  22. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (27 April 2022). "James Murdoch's Bodhi Tree, Reliance and Viacom18 Strike $2 Billion Deal to Create Giant Indian TV and Streaming Company". Variety. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  23. ^ bureau, afaqs! news. "Bodhi Tree Systems strengthens holdings in Viacom18 by securing additional 2.89% stake: ET". www.afaqs.com. Retrieved 16 August 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  24. ^ Spangler, Todd (13 March 2024). "Paramount Global Sells 13% Stake in India's Viacom18 to Reliance for $517 Million". Variety. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  25. ^ "Disney Explores Strategic Options for India Business". Wall Street Journal. 11 July 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  26. ^ "Disney India Sale Talks Draw Firms Including Reliance". Bloomberg News. 18 September 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  27. ^ "Walt Disney in talks with Adani, Sun TV to sell India streaming, TV biz: Report". Mint. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  28. ^ "Disney Said to Near Multibillion-Dollar Deal With Reliance". Bloomberg News. 23 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  29. ^ a b Prasad, Nikita (28 February 2024). "Reliance, Disney India merge streaming, TV assets to create ₹70,352 crore media powerhouse; 5 key highlights". Mint. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  30. ^ Barman, Arijit; Farooqui, Jaaved (25 December 2023). "Reliance, Disney ink non-binding agreement for mega-merger". Economic Times. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  31. ^ Sinha, Vaishnawi (25 December 2023). "Mukesh Ambani's Reliance-Disney Star deal explained: 10 points on mega-merger". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  32. ^ Kaustubh, Abhinav (9 November 2023). ""We'd Like To Stay," Disney CEO On Hotstar's Alleged Sale To Reliance Jio, Adani Group". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  33. ^ Akash, Sreenivasan. "What We Know About The $8.5 Billion Disney Merger With Reliance In India".
  34. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (28 February 2024). "Disney And Reliance Clinch Joint Venture In India". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  35. ^ "Reliance and Disney announce strategic joint venture to bring together the most compelling and engaging entertainment brands in India" (PDF). BSE India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  36. ^ Whittock, Jesse (7 March 2024). "Paramount In Talks To Sell Stake In Viacom18 To Disney India Partner Reliance — Bloomberg". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  37. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (13 March 2024). "Paramount Global Sells Stake In Viacom18 To India's Reliance For $500 Million". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  38. ^ "Reliance's Viacom18-Disney merger: Govt approves transfer of the licence to Star India". The Economic Times. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  39. ^ Manfredi, Lucas (14 November 2024). "Disney, Reliance Industries Close $8.5 Billion Merger of Star India and Viacom18". The Wrap. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  40. ^ Bureau, The Hindu (14 February 2025). "JioHotstar launched: JioStar merges JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 August 2025. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  41. ^ Javed, Farooqi (6 August 2025). "JioStar acquired US Open media rights for five years". The Economic Times.
  42. ^ Prasad, Nikita (14 November 2024). "Reliance, Disney complete transaction for $8.5-billion merger deal to create India's largest media powerhouse | Company Business News". mint. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  43. ^ a b c "Reliance-Disney JV: Who are the top leaders at JioStar?". www.storyboard18.com. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  44. ^ "Reliance Industries, Viacom18 and Disney complete merger: 100-plus channels, 3 CEOs and 5 other biggest highlights of Rs 70,000 crore business". The Times of India. 16 November 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  45. ^ Staff, e4m (19 July 2025). "NP Singh & Bharat N Anand roped in as JioStar Independent Directors - Exchange4media". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 14 August 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  46. ^ "Meet the Leaders of JioStar | Visionaries Behind India's Media Giant". Jiostar. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
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