DIAL M FOR MUKESH

The Reliance-Disney merger is Mukesh Ambani's answer to Google and Meta in India. Here's how...

- Abdul Haleem Sherif

Ahead of the inauguration of the first Disney entertainment park in Anaheim (California) in 1954, the company’s illustrious founder Walt Disney is believed to have said “...it all started with a mouse”. Many continents away in India, the saying in the media and entertainment industry for the past two decades could well be that it all started with cricket.

And so did the story of the Reliance-Disney merger. While the blueprint for the mega deal was being drawn up by top executives at Reliance Industries (RIL) and Uday Shankar, former Disney India boss and a board member at Reliance-controlled Viacom18 Media; caught between two Bobs—Bob Iger and Bob Chapek—and a writer’s strike in Hollywood, Mickey Mouse did not know where the rollercoaster ride would end.

Months before Iger was brought back from retirement to replace Chapek as the head of Disney in November 2022, its India operations let go of the digital rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Bought by Viacom18 at a whopping $3 billion, the surprise was not at the bid value but at the free screening of the matches on JioCinema, a streaming service owned by Viacom18.

Shankar knew it was the end of Disney’s control of Hotstar in India.

“Jio has been disrupting the digital space aggressively over the past two years with their OTT offering JioCinema. They acquired the FIFA World Cup 2022 rights and streamed it for free. They did the same with the IPL in 2023. Through this undercutting strategy, they were broadening the number of advertisers and making it difficult for the TV rights holders,” says Lloyd Mathias, a Delhi-based business strategist and independent director.