Broadcasting giants, Viacom 18 and Star India are set to crack a merger in India as Reliance is about to take charge of over 100 channels and two major streaming platforms in India that are assets of Walt Disney’s in India.
The huge merger is a part of a huge 8.5 billion USD deal reportedly between Reliance and Walt Disney’s media assets in India, as announced in February of 2024.
Let us see how will this affect the cricket viewers in India.
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Where to watch India’s matches and IPL after the Reliance-Star India merger?
As per the reports, Reliance is about to retain Disney+ Hotstar as their primary streaming platform due to the better technology that has been used to build the platform for a long time.
However, the decision regarding whether to integrate Disney+ Hotstart into JioCinema or to run both separately for sports and entertainment content is yet to be made.
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According to Reuters, Disney+ Hotstar is set to livestream the Indian Premier League exclusively, unlike the last couple of seasons when it was being streamed on JioCinema.
Currently, Viacom 18 has all the exclusive rights to both telecast and live stream the Indian team matches. However, the IPL rights are shared between the two giants. Star telecasts the league on TV while JioCinema handles the livestreams.
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