Reliance -Warner Bros deal: Reliance India has struck a deal with Warner Bros Discovery Inc. for its streaming platform JioCinema. The deal will give a tough competition to Netflix and Amazon and bring Hollywood content to JioCenema.
Warner Bros as well as its HBO content will become available on JioCinema app following the deal. Popular movies and shows such as Succession, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series among other content will now be available on JioCinema via Reliance’s Viacom18.
New multi-year agreement
According to a joint statement by the companies, the content partnership, a “new multi-year agreement” will start next month.
“HBO Original, Max Original and Warner Bros. Television series are set to premiere on JioCinema on the same day as the US.,” the companies said.
Clement Schwebig, President for India, Southeast Asia and Korea for Warner Bros said the agreement was part of its commitment to the South Asia market, as it looks to further strengthen the scale of its regional business.
Sources said the partnership would be exclusive and see most of Warner’s marquee content on the JioCinema platform. Warner cannot offer most of its popular titles to other Indian rivals including Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar, sources said.
“It’s a deep exclusive arrangement which will make JioCinema the house of Warner, HBO in India,” said sources.
Thousands of hours of streaming content
JioCinema, showing the IPL cricket tournament on the platform for free this season, will now bring thousands of hours of streaming content on its app.
Viacom18 won the IPL digital streaming rights from 2023 to 2027 for around $2.9 billion, rights which Disney previously held. Viacom18’s shareholders include Reliance, Paramount Global as well as Bodhi Tree. Bodhi Tree is a a joint venture between James Murdoch and a former Star India executive, Uday Shankar.
Bodhi Tree recently invested $528 million in Viacom18.
Warner so far had various arrangements with Indian streaming giants, but the Viacom-Warner deal will see consolidation of that library and will include HBO, Max and Warner content, among others.
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