By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Streaming of all live sporting events by the merged Disney-Reliance entity in India, including the popular Indian Premier League for cricket, will be done only on Disney’s app, sources said, in the first major integration after the deal.
Disney and Reliance in February agreed a $8.5 billion merger of their media assets to create India’s biggest entertainment company, with both together having 120 TV channels and two streaming apps, but provided no details of how they would combine or operate after the deal.
Live cricket is a money spinner and among the most-watched programming of the streaming platforms. While Reliance’s JioCinema has rights for events such as the IPL, Winter Olympics, Indian Super League football, Disney+ Hotstar has rights to International Cricket Council’s India tournaments, Premier League football, and the domestic Pro Kabaddi League.
It will be Disney+ Hotstar which will house all the live sporting events, and the process of transitioning from Reliance’s app has been conveyed in a townhall this week by Hotstar head Sajith Sivanandan, said one of the sources.
Disney declined to comment, while Reliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
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