India's Reliance JV strikes content streaming deal with Warner for JioCinema

Bodhi Tree Multimedia

27/04/2023 09:18

(Adds confirmation by companies)
    By Aditya Kalra
       NEW DELHI, April 27 (Reuters) - The broadcast venture of
India's Reliance  RELI.NS  has struck a  deal with Warner Bros
Discovery Inc.  WBD.O  for its streaming platform JioCinema,
making a big push to bring Hollywood content onto the platform
and compete against Netflix and Amazon. 
    The deal between Reliance's Viacom18 would see Warner Bros
as well as its HBO content becoming available on Reliance's
JioCinema app, including popular movies and shows such as
Succession, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the Harry
Potter series, according to a joint statement by the companies.
    Reuters reported the deal earlier on Thursday based on
sources with direct knowledge of the deal.
    The sources did not disclose the financials of the deal, but
the statement described the content partnership as a "new
multi-year agreement" which 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
U.S.," 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.
    One source told Reuters that 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  AMZN.O  Prime
Video and Disney  DIS.N  Hotstar, the source added.
    "It's a deep exclusive arrangement which will make JioCinema
the house of Warner, HBO in India," the source said.
    The content deal will bring thousands of hours of streaming
content onto JioCinema, which has become popular for showing 
the IPL cricket tournament on the platform for free in the
ongoing season. 
    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
 PARA.O  as well as Bodhi Tree, which is a a joint venture
between James Murdoch and a former Star India executive, Uday
Shankar.
    Bodhi Tree recently invested $528 million in Viacom18. 
    Several of HBO's top rated shows, including Succession,
which had aired in India on the Disney Hotstar platform until
March 31 as part of a deal between the two companies that ended
on the date.
    The source told Reuters that 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.
    JioCinema is seeking to compete with rivals including
Netflix and Amazon in a market where such platforms are becoming
increasingly popular, thanks to cheap data prices. 
    But JioCinema is a small player. Netflix outperforms rivals
in the subscription video-on-demand market, commanding a 39%
share by revenue in 2021 compared to nearest rival Hotstar's
23%, according to Media Partners Asia.

 (Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Munsif
Vengattil and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan and Simon Cameron-Moore)
 ((aditya.kalra@thomsonreuters.com; +91-11-49548021;))