JioStar is coming soon: Here’s what you need to know

As the Rs 70,350-crore merger between Reliance’s Viacom18 and Disney Star approaches its final stages, the highly anticipated new company, JioStar, is set to make its debut by November 13. We take a look at what the merged entity will entail. Here’s all you need to know about the merger.

• Who owns the merged entity?

The joint venture (JV) has an ownership structure where RIL holds 16.34%, Viacom18 possesses 46.82%, and Disney accounts for 36.84%.

• Who will head it?

Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, will head the joint venture, with Uday Shankar taking on the role of vice-chairperson.

Kevin Vaz and Kiran Mani are poised to be the co-CEOs. At present, they lead the broadcast and digital sectors, respectively, at Viacom18..

• Distribution head

Piyush Goyal, the chief operating officer of IndiaCast Media, is expected to be the distribution head for the new entity. IndiaCast is a collaborative venture between TV18 and Viacom18.

• Key exits

K Madhavan, the country manager and president of Disney Star, alongside Sajith Sivanandan, the head of Disney+ Hotstar, made their exit last month. The head of distribution and international markets at Disney Star, Gurjeev Kapoor, has decided to step down. Ferzad Palia, business head at JioCinema, is all set to resign from his role. Earlier in June, Anil Jayaraj stepped down as the CEO from Viacom18 Sports. Meanwhile, Sanjog Gupta, who heads the sports business for Disney Star has remained.

• What will it bring together? 

This merger is set to create India's largest media conglomerate by bringing together two streaming platforms—JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar—along with 120 television channels.

The newly-merged entity's OTT platform, JioStar, was launched on November 12 with the announcement "Coming Soon." Content from both OTT platforms is anticipated to be available once it goes live. 

The merger will consolidate the media rights for IPL and ICC matches, as well as the bilateral rights from the cricket boards of India, Australia, and South Africa. Apart from cricket, the combined entity will possess valuable sports assets such as Wimbledon, the Pro Kabaddi League, MotoGP, and the English Premier League (EPL).

• No bundling of TV and OTT ad slots for cricket

The companies have voluntarily agreed that post merger, the combined entity will refrain from bundling TV and OTT ad slots for IPL, ICC, and BCCI cricketing rights until the current rights period ends.

The parties will also divest seven television channels, which include Hungama and Super Hungama. This is in compliance with the conditional permission granted by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the merger of the two companies.

The commission had expressed concerns about the emergence of a dominant entity in the cricket broadcasting space. However, it gave its approval for the mega merger on August 28 subject to certain voluntary modifications.

• Other approvals

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) gave the green light for the merger in August. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) approved the transfer of licenses of television channels of Viacom 18 Media to Star India ahead of the merger with Disney in September. The approval was given for the transfer of licenses relating to non-news and current affairs television channels.