Ambani’s JioCinema secures NBCUniversal titles, escalates Netflix and Disney rivalry
techcrunch.comJioCinema, the affordable on-demand video streaming service rival to Netflix and Disney’s Hotstar in India, will soon be the home for “The Office” and other NBCUniversal titles.
The Viacom18 streaming service said on Monday it has signed a “multi-year” partnership with NBCUniversal to bring “thousands of hours” of NBCU movies and TV shows to India. The partnership follows Viacom18 bagging the streaming rights for HBO and other Warner Bros. titles for the South Asian market, snatching premium offerings that once attracted many to Disney’s Hotstar.
The partnership ensures that “almost all content,” save for some library, is exclusive to JioCinema in India, the company said.
JioCinema scoring these international catalogs should be cause of concern for global giants. JioCinema, which has over the years poached high-profile talent from Hotstar, offers the most affordable streaming service among the mainstream firms. Compared to a standard Netflix plan, which costs $6 a month, JioCinema Premium levies a fee of just $12 for a year.
The streaming service, which is home to the highly popular IPL cricket tournament and also offers a free and ad-supported tier, will start releasing the NBC titles on its platform starting next month, in a dedicated Peacock hub, it said. NBC titles will be exclusively available to paying subscribers, said Viacom18.
Ambani bats for cricket glory as Disney scales back in India
Viacom18, a joint venture between tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance and Paramount Global, also counts former Star executives Uday Shankar and James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree among its backers. Bodhi Tree reduced its planned investment in Viacom18 to $528 million last month, a 70% decrease from the initial commitment of $1.78 billion. Bodhi
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