Ambani’s JioCinema Takes NBCUniversal Titles, Escalates Netflix-Disney Rivalry

JioCinema, the inexpensive on-demand video streaming service that rivals Netflix and Disney’s Hotstar in India, will quickly be residence to “The Workplace” and different NBCUniversal titles.

The streaming service Viacom18 stated Monday it has signed a “multi-year” partnership with NBCUniversal to carry “hundreds of hours” of NBCU films and TV reveals to India. The partnership follows Viacom18’s acquisition of streaming rights to HBO and different Warner Bros. titles for the South Asian market.

The partnership will not be unique, so Netflix will seemingly proceed to supply NBCU titles on its platform in India as nicely. Nonetheless, JioCinema’s scoring of those worldwide catalogs ought to be trigger for concern for international giants.

JioCinema, which has poached lots of high-profile expertise from Hotstar through the years, provides essentially the most inexpensive streaming service amongst mainstream streamers. In comparison with a normal Netflix subscription, which prices $6 monthly, JioCinema Premium prices $12 for a 12 months.

The streaming service, which can be residence to the extremely widespread IPL cricket match and provides a free and ad-supported tier, will broadcast the NBC titles in India from subsequent month in a devoted Peacock hub on the streaming service, it stated. NBC titles shall be obtainable completely to paying subscribers, Viacom18 stated.

Viacom18, a three way partnership between Reliance and Paramount World, additionally counts former Star executives Uday Shankar and James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree amongst its backers. Bodhi Tree minimize its deliberate funding in Viacom18 to $528 million final month, down 70% from its preliminary dedication of $1.78 billion. Bodhi Tree plans to extend its stake in Viacom18, TechCrunch beforehand reported.

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