The entertainment industry in India could potentially change depending on a meeting that is about to take place in London next week. The long speculated merger of Disney’s India operation with Reliance would be at the table as the two companies sit to discuss a potential deal. There have been many rounds of talks so far on this matter.
Disney and Reliance are considering a merger by creating a joint venture company in which Reliance will hold the majority share. If the merger takes place, it’ll change the power dynamics in the entertainment industry including streaming and OTT.
This will put Reliance in direct competition with Zee Entertainment and Sony. But a bigger rivalry will be created in the streaming business. JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar were the two big players when it came to sports streaming in India. With the merger, it is bound to create a monopoly for Mukesh Ambani.
This will also create big competition for Amazon Prime and Netflix who are already losing titles to JioCinema. It will be interesting to see how the OTT business is affected by it.
