Is Jio Buying Hotstar and Star Sports?
There were rumours that Jio is buying Disney+Hotstar. See the video to know the facts.
Star TV was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between Hong Kong based Hutchison Whampoa and Li Ka-Shing. It launched Hollywood English-language entertainment channels for Asian audiences. Then later more channels like news, sports, music, Indian channels were added. Star became a part of the company 21st Century Fox. Star India officially launched Hotstar on 11 February 2015. Star, and in turn Hotstar, were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2019 and since then we know Hostar as Disney+Hotstar.
Now there are rumours that Disney Hotstar and Star Sports are for sale. It was because after it lost the IPL viewing rights to Reliance Jio, Disney lost some 49 lakh subscribers. Later, to cope up with the loss from losing IPL rights & to cut costs, Disney decided not to renew their HBO contract with the parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Reliance Jio jumped on this opportunity and partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to get exclusive streaming rights of HBO, Max Original & Warner Bros’ content. In September 2023, the news of Disney planning to sell Hotstar & Star sports to Reliance Industries Ltd. started appearing.
Numerous sources indicated that Disney has started exploring the option of selling Hotstar & Star Sports and is considering various potential buyers but Reliance Industries is the most prominent candidate. It was said that Disney has started the initial talk with Reliance but it was uncertain whether they will ultimately go ahead with the decision to sell or not. After Jio streamed the Asia Cup & IPL for free, Hotstar too decided to stream the ICC Men’s World Cup for free this year. Hotstar’s decision was perceived as an attempt to retain its presence in sports broadcasting & a streaming platform. In October, there was again multiple news of Disney considering Adani Group and Sun TV Network as their equity partner to create a joint venture in India. However there was news that Disney would sell off its full Indian operation rather than a part of it now for a momentous $1000 crores. Throughout the speculation, the representatives of Disney, Reliance, Adani Group & Sun TV Network didn’t make any comment on the topic till then.
In November 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger said “We’d like to stay!” on the topic during a meeting. He also mentioned that Disney has an opportunity to strengthen their hand in the OTT war. Disney+ Hotstar is said to have regained many subscribers because of the free streaming of the ICC Men’s World Cup. So, right now it is not clear if Disney will sell Hotstar completely, form a partnership or not sell it all.
