New Delhi: Now that Disney and Reliance have joined hands, their joint venture will be streaming all the live sports exclusively on the Hotstar app by Disney, according to a report by news agency Reuters. This brings under the notable sporting events like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other major events like the Olympics, which the report mentioned having quoted three sources related to the matter.
This is both businesses’ first big integration since their merger deal of $8.5 billion was announced earlier this year. The collab has created the largest entertainment company in India which combines 120 TV channels and two major streaming platforms. For those unversed, Reliance’s JioCinema currently streams IPL and Hotstar holds the rights to stream other prestigious events like the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments, the English Premier League (EPL), and the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL).
One of those sources revealed that the decision to move all the live sports to Hotstar was due to the superior back-end technology of the platform, which is quite better when it comes to handling the large-scale demands of the live content. Hotstar is also better in the area of serving targeted ads more effectively, which makes it the preferred choice of both business giants to stream live sports.
Hotstar has developed its own niche over the years and has been reputable for the smooth streaming of a game, specially in India, where millions of fans tune in for live cricket matches. It is noteworthy that during the final of the men’s cricket World Cup last year, a record with 59 million concurrent viewers was achieved by the platform, showcasing its capability to cater to large-scale audiences without any technical glitches.
Other key developments
A town hall meeting was reportedly held by the head of Hotstar – Sajith Sivanandan, who informed the staff about these upcoming changes. The transition of shifting live sports from Reliance’s app JioCinema to Hotstar is expected to be completed by January next year but it remains unclear whether Hotstar will be rebranded or if both apps will continue their independent operations for other entertainment content like movies and TV shows.
Although the merger between the two was finalised in February this year, many details regarding how the companies will integrate their services, still remain uncertain. One of the sources as mentioned in the report, said that there are still doubts over whether both platforms will continue to operate side by side or if one will be eventually shut down. This also casts uncertainty on how the non-sports content will be managed in the future.
The merger between Disney and Reliance was approved after both companies agreed to certain concessions which included promises not to increase the advertising rates without any reason. This eases out the concerns about their monopoly over the broadcasting rights of cricket which has always been a key segment in the media landscape of India. With Hotstar having the rights to the ICC tournaments, JioCinema holds the rights to the Winter Olympics, the India Super League (ISL), and the IPL as well.
