Development Alert: Disney Star And Reliance Are Merging To Form A Media Powerhouse, Might Lead To The Merger Of JioCinema And Disney+ Hotstar

Disney has taken another big step toward realigning its India strategy. The company has signed a non-binding term sheet with Reliance Industries that would see the two merge their Indian operations, the completion of which would create one of India’s biggest entertainment empires. 

Under the terms, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group would own 51% of the merged entity through a combination of shares and cash. Disney would hold the remaining 49% of shares.

The term sheet was finalized at a meeting last week in London that saw Bob Iger advisor Kevin Mayer representing Disney and Ambani advisor Manoj Modi there for Reliance. According to the Economic Times, the duo has been working for months on terms.

The merger deal is expected to be completed by February, even though Reliance is said to be hoping to wrap it up in late January.

Iger, who has cut thousands of jobs this year and faces pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz, said on last month’s earnings call that Disney would like to stay in India, but try and “strengthen our hand, improve the bottom line.”

Hotstar, the streaming outlet initially launched by Star India, came under Disney’s control as part of the $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets in 2019. Disney has used the Star assets in various ways to help attain its goal of 300 million to 350 million overall streaming subscribers by 2024. 

Reliance In Talks To Buy Majority Stake In Disney's Star Indian Business

Over the past few months, there have been many reports that Disney has been looking at its options with regards to its business in India, called Disney Star, formerly known as Star India, which it acquired when it purchased 20th Century Fox in 2019. Disney Star includes the streaming service Disney+ Hotstar, film studios such as Star Studios, an array of over seventy linear channels, and much more.

In the past few months, Disney has been having talks with many different businesses, including Sony, Blackstone, Sun TV and New Delhi TV, about potentially selling some or all of its assets in India. According to Bloomberg , Reliance Industries Ltd, which is owned by Asia’s richest tycoon Mukesh Ambani, is getting close to completing a deal to buy Disney Star in a cash and stock deal. Disney is valuing its Indian business at around $10 billion (down from the $15 billion it was worth before Disney purchased it in 2019), and Reliance is valuing the business between $7 and $8 billion.

Disney is still looking to keep a minority stake in the company, but it would sell a controlling stake in Disney Star. But it still may keep hold of some assets. There might also be some regulatory issues that could cause delays with the buyout. We’ve seen with other large mergers that the Indian government might require some assets to be sold off separately.

It’s expected that the announcement of a deal could be made as early as next month. Disney does have a quarterly financial investors call on November 8th 2024, so announcing this deal, could help Disney offset the costs of buying out Comcast’s stake in Hulu, which is estimated to cost around $9 billion. Allowing Disney to basically sell off one business to cover its purchase, allowing Disney to focus on its core markets. Reliance would merge some of its media units into Disney Star.

JioCinema, which Reliance runs, has been a thorn in Disney’s side, having paid billions of dollars to get the Indian Premiere Cricket league rights, which resulted in Disney+ Hotstar losing over 20 million subscribers. Plus, recently, JioCinema also picked up the rights to HBO content, which was then removed from Disney+ Hotstar.

It’s unknown if Disney+ Hotstar will continue in its current setup or be merged with JioCinema. Could Disney+ just operate separately in India, without the Hotstar branding and content, which could move over to JioCinema? There are certainly more questions than answers right now.

So, what does this mean for Disney+ and Hulu around the world?

At the moment, officially, no deal has been announced, and no details on what’s actually going to happen have been revealed. There are many variables and potential outcomes from Disney selling its Indian assets. Selling Star India wouldn’t likely have much impact outside India, other than a potential move away from the Star branding and maybe changing the name of Disney+ Hotstar in some countries like Indonesia.

If Disney does sell off Disney Star, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the Star hub within Disney+ around the world, rebranded to Hulu once Disney completes its purchase from Comcast. Disney has rebranded many linear channels to Star in countries worldwide, which might be another issue that results in more rebranding. While in Latin America, Disney runs a streaming service called, Star+, which is a Hulu & ESPN+ hybrid, but there is always hope Disney unifies Star+ and Disney+ in that region, to be similar to how Disney+ works internationally. The Star brand has only been used by Disney since 2019, and arguably, the brand is very generic and could easily be changed.

Disney is still running Hotstar as a separate streaming service in many countries, including Canada, Singapore and the UK, so those could be included in the deal. Hulu does have some Hotstar content from India, so this could continue to be licensed or eventually removed.

If Disney+ Hotstar was completely sold off, it would obviously have a significant impact on the global subscriber numbers for Disney+. However, Wall Street may prefer this, since a Hotstar subscriber generally brings in less than 60 cents per month, compared to over $7 outside of India. Investors may also like a more leaner Disney, focused on its core brands.

For Disney+ Hotstar subscribers, it does bring up many questions about what happens could be merged together and what the future is for its content. Internationally, it brings the Star branding into question. But ultimately, Disney does seem like its less interested in running a vast linear, streaming and studio business in India, instead treating it like more other countries in the world.

It’s important to note, that no final decision has been made, and Disney could still decide to hold onto the assets, but the Star Studios and linear channels, being sold off does seem much more likely.

GoQuest Media Will Now Handle Distribution Of Disney Star Across Africa

Indian broadcaster Disney Star, which operates the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service, has signed an exclusive distribution deal with Mumbai-based distributor GoQuest Media.

The pact sees GoQuest becoming the sole distributor for Disney Star’s content portfolio across Africa, including content dubbed in both English and Hindi and encompassing TV and OTT rights to Disney Star’s linear programming catalogue.

Across a TV network that the company claims reaches more than 700 million viewers in nine languages every month and its successful streaming platform, Disney Star generates more than 20,000 hours of original content every year, including general entertainment, sports, films, infotainment, kids and lifestyle content.

The catalogue GoQuest will be shopping in Africa includes Anupamaa, Imlie, Kasauti Zindagii Kay, Yeh Jaadu Hai Jinn Ka and Chandra Nandini, under an agreement that “represents a strategic move to bring popular Indian content to a wider African audience,” according to the two parties.

The move comes after GoQuest has introduced foreign-language titles to Africa over the past 10 years. GoQuest MD Vivek Lath said: “Our track record, strong partnerships and knowledge of the region and local audiences have positioned us as the ideal team to introduce Disney Star’s Indian collection to this market.”

Sudhir Nagpal, head of international business at Disney Star, added: “Africa has a strong viewer base for our content, especially for our series across languages. We continuously seek opportunities to connect with our audience and this collaboration with GoQuest Media is another step in that direction.”

Disney Exploring Possible Sale Of Indian Business Home To Star Life And Star Select

Walt Disney (DIS.N) is exploring options to sell or find a joint venture partner for its India digital and TV business, a source with direct knowledge said on Wednesday.

The talks are in a "very, very nascent" stage and no potential buyer or partner has been approached so far, and it remains unclear how the process will pan out, the person added.

"Talks have begun internally (on) what makes sense to do," said the source, adding discussions were being driven by executives at Disney headquarters in the U.S.

Disney did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The company's shares closed up 1.6% on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report news of Disney's talks and said the company had reached out to at least one bank about ways to help the India business grow, while sharing some of the costs.

The discussions come at a time when Disney has faced increasing pressure due to the emergence of Reliance Industries' (RELI.NS) streaming platform JioCinema, run by Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani. He has been marketing his streaming platform by offering free access to Indian Premier League cricket tournament, digital rights of which were earlier with Disney.

Research firm CLSA has estimated Disney+ Hotstar's subscriber base shrank by nearly 5 million users in India after it lost the digital rights for IPL.

Reliance's broadcast venture Viacom18, which runs JioCinema, also struck a deal with Warner Bros in April for HBO and other popular content such as Succession. Several of these top rated shows earlier aired in India on the Disney platform.

Viacom18's shareholders include Reliance, Paramount Global (PARA.O) as well as Bodhi Tree, which is a joint venture between James Murdoch and a former Star India executive, Uday Shankar.

Disney's India business comprises the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service and Star India, which it took over when it acquired the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019.

The source, who declined to be named as the talks are confidential, said it will be difficult to find an outright buyer in India as the enterprise value of the India business was seen around $15-16 billion when Disney took over Fox's business.

Star India, which was rebranded as Disney Star last year, encompasses dozens of TV channels and a stake in a movie production company.

Disney, like its peers in streaming and the wider media industry, is cutting costs as macro economic headwinds weigh on its advertising revenue and subscriber growth.

In February, the company said it would cut 7,000 jobs as part of an effort to save $5.5 billion in costs in a sweeping restructuring of the company.

New Channel Alert: Openview To Add Some Spice To Ultra

Right in time for the Easter holidays, Ultraview is surprising audiences with a second bouquet on Ultra, their recently launched Pay TV offering.

Will have the latest addition of niche channels with never-been-seen programmes, and that launched at 6:30pm on 6 April 2023. It will be home to two channels: Star Select and Zee Family, and promise to be an entertainment hotspot with a variety of Hindi content.

Viewers can get a taste of the flavourful content for a limited period, at no cost. From there the Spice bouquet will be available on a subscription basis at R119,99 per month using the Openview decoder to activate the chosen bouquet.

Star Select is a premium Hindi bespoke entertainment channel, specially curated for South Africa’s Hindi speaking viewers. Star Select is the entertainment hotspot that offers something for every age group, making the channel a family destination that offers the best romantic dramas, entertaining comedy shows, popular reality TV and the biggest Bollywood blockbuster hits. Some of the shows include Banni Chow Home Delivery (Genre: Drama), Swayamvar: Mika Di Vohti (Genre: Reality), Pyar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara (Genre: Romance), Saubhagyavati Bhava (Genre: Drama), May I Come In Madam: (Genre: Comedy). and many more.

Zee Family offers exciting and heartwarming entertainment from India in Hindi with English subtitles. The channel caters to families showcasing award-winning romance and drama series, comedies, blockbuster movies, lifestyle, cooking and reality shows. Viewers can look forward to Baal Shiv, Ghar Ek Mandir, Kripa Agrasen Maharaj, Ki Ek Mahanayak Dr. BR Ambedkar, Main Bhi Ardhangini and the acclaimed reality singing competition, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

Drafted Version: What To Expect On Openview Ultra's Highly Anticipated Channel, Star Select?

A few days ago, eMedia Investments unveiled two new channels for their Ultraview bouquet, Zee Family and Star Select which are expected to rollout on April 6th. Prior to that, sources had provided content details to one of the new channels, Zee Family.

Zee Family as mentioned a while ago will be spun off from Zee TV offering shows like Goan Gullies, Baal Shiv and Ghar Ek Mandir. In a few days, Star Select which is spun off from StarPlus will also be rolling out on the Openview platform with the following:

- May I Come In Madam: A young man is dejected after getting constantly browbeaten by his wife. However, he is smitten with his good-looking employer and tries to seek her attention in different ways.
- Dil Se Dil Dua...Saubhagyavati Bhava?: A middle-class girl, Jahnvi, gets married to a rich man, Viraj Dobriyal. Little does she know that she has landed herself in a marriage from which there is no escape.
- Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara: Aditya, who comes from a wealthy yet broken home, marries Pankhuri, who has been raised in a joint family. Together, they struggle to overcome challenges and reunite their family.
- Banni Chow Home Delivery: Banni, an independent and brave woman who runs a food delivery business, crosses paths with Yuvan, an oppressed young man with special needs, and their lives change.
- Kya Qusoor Hai Amala Ka?: Amala, a rape victim, faces numerous problems in society. However, with strong willpower, she battles all her problems with aplomb.
- Swayamvar - Mika Di Vohti: Renowned singer Mika Singh sets out to pick his perfect bride from a group of beautiful women who attempt to steal his heart.
- Armit Manthan: Features the teachings and preaching of the great saints of Maharashtra delivered by Purushottam Dada Maharaj Patil. Theses teachings make the day-to-day life easier for the common man.

Recap To The Past Month: The Mysterious Disappearance Of The Spice Bouquet On The Openview Platform

Earlier in the month, eMedia Investments unveiled the first batch to the pay-tv venture Openview Ultra known as Ultraview Pride or just Pride. It is basically an LGBTQ type bouquet consisting of two general entertainment channels one of which DStv reject, OUTtv and FUSE.

During the launch consumers were kind of curious as to the fate of Spice TV which is basically an expansion to the current Bollywood offering seen on the Openview which like Pride TV comes with two channels for the time being, Zee Family and Star Select.

They were rumours sometime ago that just like BBC UKTV failed launch on Openview that eMedia Investments was having issues with one of the channels in question but that seems highly unlikely as eMedia Investments held a dance party this past week.

If I had to guess, eMedia Investments was planning to do some grand gesture for the offering ahead of its debut on the Openview platform. Similar to Pride which too a similar festivity months prior.

Although eMedia Investments has yet to provide any further details about a potential rollout. I wouldn't be shocked if they unveiled it in the coming weeks or before May in fact considering when these channels were unveiled to the public beforehand.

As for the channels in question, Zee Family is said to be a direct competitor to the current Zee TV both owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. I wouldn't be shocked if Star Select did the same with StarPlus both are owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India).

Just curious as to why companies like Warner Bros. Discovery and the already mentioned like to build competition for themselves. In the above-mentioned case, you could say it helps consumers explore other parts of India but for Warner not really.

New Channel Alert (Rumour): OUTtv + FUSE + Zee Family + Star Select Coming Soon Exclusively To Openview Ultra

eMedia Investments is prepping up the pay-tv version to the current Openview platform and from what is seen these past weeks I wouldn't be shocked if it was unveiled before the end of the month and before we get to the four channels, here's what you should know.

For those using Openview, there was 4 test channels and from what was seen through those lab experiments were SABC 2, SABC 3, Zee TV and Colors TV and as predicted these were just placeholder channels for the final product which turns out to be OUTtv, FUSE, Zee Family and Star Select.

OUTtv is a general entertainment channel owned by OUTtv Media Global Inc. which is meant to promote the LGBTQ community with drama series, reality shows, movies and documentaries. Some of the content include Absolutely Fabulous, Call Me Mother and Brideshead Revisited.

It was launched as a pop-up channel on DStv back in 2018 unfortunately MultiChoice opted not to have a 24 hour channel but rather to bundle it with Showmax and with this news I wouldn't be shocked if they tried prepping up a similar offering.

eMedia Investments:
- Ultraview Pride and Ultraview Indian coming soon to Openview
- More Bollywood coming soon to Openview Ultra
- More e.tv coming soon to DStv customers
- Could SABC be unveiling another two channels for Openview Ultra?
- Glow TV to stop airing on the Openview platform from next month
- Could Openview+ lead to 24 hour capability of these channels?

FUSE owned by FUSE Media LLC from what I can gather is a music and lifestyle channel similar to OUTtv it celebrates the LGBTQ community with shows like Made From Scratch, Sex Sells, We Need to Talk About America and Stay True.

The other two remain as much of a mystery to me but here's my hunch about both brands.

Zee Family is a general entertainment channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises while as Zee World and Zee One rely heavily on soaps to keep their lineup afloat this channel will incorporate that and explore other aspects of India including reality, lifestyle, kids movies and doccies.

Star Select is a general entertainment channel owned by Disney Star likely serving as a competitor to Zee Family with a similar offering while as serving as an expansion to the current Star Life channel.

As to whether these channels are dubbed in English that is unknown but I'm expecting them to be Hindi with English subtitles. Makes sense as we don't want to burn off so much money.

As for the pricing you may want to sit down when reading this, remember when Openview Ultra was first announced as Openview+ with a price tag R150 well that's not the case with revamped package.

Apparently, Openview Ultra has priced these channels under two tags Ultraview Pride which is R75p/m with Ultraview Indian being priced at R119p/m together that takes you to R194p/m almost R200p/m for just 4 channels.

Take to account, Openview Ultra is just a newbie to the market and overtime we will see more entertainment. For those who've been followed DStv for a while would understand that pricing is not determined by quantity but quality which is the case right here.

MultiChoice's premium package for starters almost priced at R900p/m has most funds going onto M-Net and SuperSport and with Openview Ultra I believe people will have a better understanding as to how MultiChoice actually prices their packages.

The History Of Star Life's Predecessor Life OK

Before Life OK this was the channel back in 2001

Star One was a youth entertainment channel owned by the defunct News Corporation which inturn was owned by Star India and FOX International TV channels which are both properties of The Walt Disney Company under the brand Disney Star.

During its run, the channel produced several Bollywood productions including Detective Omkar Nath (D.O.N.), Miley Jab Hum Tum, Shakuntala, Home Shanti Home and shows formerly seen on Star Life like Geet and to some extent Koffie With Karan.

The introduction to Life OK

In 2011, it was announced Star One would be replaced by Life OK from December 18th as part of an attempt to bolster their offering to take on the likes of Sony which was ahead in terms of viewership. With the new channel onboard came a set of original programming.

The channel introduced several shows viewers would have come across in its current form or at the English version which is Star Life like Forever Yours (Your Paakhi) that formed part of the incarnate initial offering alongside other series like Pukaar - Call For The Hero and Dream Girl.

Life OK expansion to Africa, exit in the region and elsewhere

Life OK just like StarPlus and a few other channels expanded to various European markets with Africa fortunate enough to get Life OK as a replacement to Channel V on the StarTimes platform.

Interesting enough, Life OK performed poorly with its audience I mean for a "Hindi" entertainment channel to cater for an English audience made a whole lot of sense especially with StarTimes bulk of Indian entertainment.

In 2017, Life OK was replaced by Star Bharat again still reserved as a youth brand and the reasons for the demise of Life OK were more or less similar to that of StarTimes I mean Bharat also the platform produce a selection of content with reruns of StarPlus series.

Conspiracy theory about Star Life

Although there's sufficient evidence of the channel's connection to Life OK despite both being owned by Disney Star. Pay attention to the wording "Star Life" and "Life OK" I mean it can't be coincidence.

Life OK was often referred to as "Star's Life" OK and as mentioned notice how Life exists on Star Life I mean how would Disney Star have been able to come up with such a name.

I mean the idea of Star Life being based on a reject doesn't seem far fetched I mean Warner Bros. Discovery's Real Time and competitor Zee Enterprise's Zee One were all based on rejects which became relevant to viewers in Africa.

How The Walt Disney Company Ruined And Killed Off Star On Disney+?

Star is a content hub within the Disney+ streaming service that is responsible for handling series like American Dad, How I Met Your Mother, Helstorm, Scream Queens, Little Fireflies Everywhere alongside movies like Deadpool, Little Monsters and Vacation Friends.

Before that, the Star brand name was and is currently used in India for original programs and movies which come with linear channels that can be viewed in countries outside the region.

Due to criticism by several consumers regarding the lack of adult entertainment on the platform I mean several shows like Modern Family and Glee weren't present at the time despite fitting the description of Disney+ which was rated family at the time.

 

Star is a brand that catered to consumers aged 18-49 while some regions had to pay extra to view the bulk of entertainment on a seperate service (Hulu or Star+) others were able to view it under a tile on Disney+.

For several months into 2021, as Star began to rollout onto Disney+ in other countries came the attention span The Walt Disney Company had toward the brand. You'd find several adverts for the content under this brand labelled as Disney+ while others were labelled under another property.

From my observation, Star hardly had original content except for where it was deemed relevant which is India and even then most of the content would compliment other tiles on Disney+ and not go for the edgy stuff that would seem less Disney.

 

Worst part in regard to all of this is how some parts of Europe had to phase out the Star brand in favour of Utsav which is based on irrelevant channel only for India to go head with Star as the main company rebranded to Disney Star hopefully there's no mix-up when referring to streamer Disney+ Star.

Last year, it was reported that they'd be exiting the English market in India and likely global which appears to be on some limbo as the reported new channels had been delayed or scrapped but we'll see what happens when those delays eventually hit the surface.

The Walt Disney Company was always about alignment as several Disney channels were sacrificed for Disney+ and ESPN but these inconsistencies just prove that any brand can be mismanaged whether its fresh like Magnolia or old as TCM.