Jio Cinema to merge with Hotstar
Disney to sell its Star India business to Reliance Industries’ Viacom 18. Almost all the procedures for the merger agreement of both have been completed. But along with this, Disney will also have to say goodbye to one of its employees who has always brought it the best treatment. This employee helped start Star India’s OTT platform Hotstar and also played an important role in owning the rights to sports tournaments like IPL.
This is Mihir Rale, Disney Star’s regional chief consul, who has been working with the company since 2009. Now that the deal between Viacom 18 and Star India is in the final stages, he will bid farewell to the company. This deal between Reliance and Disney will be the largest media deal in India’s history, while the new company to be formed will also be the largest media company in the country.
From ESPN deal to IPL deal
Mihir Rale is one of the few company employees who helped Disney-Star move forward at every opportunity. This includes purchasing stakes in sports channel networks such as ESPN. Not only this, he also played an important role in starting programs like football and kabaddi for Star Network, getting the rights to matches related to IPL, BCCI and ICC and launching Disney+ Hotstar.
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From selling the loss-making shopping channel Star CJ and selling Star’s stake in Star News to buying shares in Tata Sky through the backdoor, Mihir Rale has played an important role for the company. Not only this, Mihir Rale’s work is also important in the newly formed company to broadcast IPL on ‘Hotstar’ instead of ‘Jio Cinema’ and merge Jio Cinema with Hotstar.
Now in an ET news it has been reported that Mihir Rale has resigned from Disney Star. Not only this, last week the head of the Disney+ Hotstar app. Madhavan also resigned from his position. He has also been country manager and president of Disney Star. In such a situation, it is not clear whether these managers will play any role in the future or not in the new company formed after the merger.
Viacom 18 will transfer everything to Star
With the deal between Reliance and Disney, it became clear that Jio Cinema will merge with Hotstar. But it’s not just that, Viacom 18 is going to transfer all its assets to Star India and will be the main operator of the new merged company.
