Viacom18, Reliance’s broadcasting arm in India, has inked a contract with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. to stream their content including popular Hollywood movies and shows in India on JioCinema. After acquiring the rights to IPL, this is another big move by the Reliance group company which will bring Hollywood content to the platform, competing with Netflix and Amazon Prime.
As per the deal, content from Warner Bros. including HBO Original, Max Original and Warner Bros. Television will be available on Jio Cinema in India.
It is notable that both Warner Bros. and HBO are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns several media and entertainment assets, including CNN, DC Studios, Turner Broadcasting, Discovery+, HBO Max etc. On the other hand, Viacom18 is owned by Network18, which in turn is owned by Reliance Industries headed by Mukesh Ambani.
The move means that HBO content will return to India which was earlier available on Disney Hostar. HBO content became unavailable on Hostar from 31 March this year, which included blockbuster titles such as Game Of Thrones, House of The Dragon and others. After the HBO-Hotstar tie-up ended, it was speculated that HBO content will move to Amazon Prime in India. But in a surprise move, JioCinema has emerged as the platform to stream HBO shows and movies, along with Warner Bros content.
Reportedly, the deal would make Warner Bros. and its HBO content available on Reliance’s JioCinema app, even though the deal has been signed by Reliance subsidiary Viacom18, which has a separate streaming app Voot. At present, Voot mainly streams content broadcast on satellite TV, from Colors TV, MTV, Nickelodeon and other Viacom18 channels.
It is not known whether the Hollywood content will be available on Voot also or not. On the other hand, there are speculations that a revamped JioCinema app will be relaunched with a new name Jio Voot, which seems to indicate that Jio Cinema and Voot could be merged to create a new app. Screenshots posted on a community post on OnlyTech also show that the subscription price will start from Rs 99. These details were fetched from the source code of the current JioCinema APK which revealed the new JioVoot name and also the subscription price. At present, Jio Cinema is free.
Citing an inside source, Reuters reported that most of Warner’s marquee content will be available on JioCinema with this exclusive partnership. The source added that with this exclusive partnership, JioCinema will become the ‘house of Warner, HBO in India’. “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.
This means that Warner content will be available only on JioCinema in India, and it can’t be streamed by rivals like Netflix, Amazon and Disney Hostar in India. At present, a large number of content by Warner Bros. is present on these platforms. If the exclusive provision for JioCinema is true, this means that those movies and shows will become unavailable from those platforms. The Viacom-Warner deal will see a consolidation of the Warner Bros library which is at present distributed among several streaming partners in India and will include HBO, Max and Warner content, among others.
“It’s a deep exclusive arrangement which will make JioCinema the house of Warner, HBO in India,” a source quoted by Reuters said.
BREAKING: Ambani’s Jio Cinema strikes a multi-year deal with Warner Bros and HBO to stream their content in INDIA including Succession, Game of Thrones, upcoming Harry Potter Series and many more landmark series.
— LetsCinema (@letscinema) April 27, 2023
This is game-changing, unexpected! pic.twitter.com/cPNcBj7rAB
Indian subscribers will have access to current and upcoming seasons of some of HBO’s most popular shows on JioCinema, including “Game of Thrones”, “House of The Dragon” (a “Game of Thrones” prequel spin-off), “The Last of Us,” “Succession,” and “The White Lotus,” as well as returning seasons of “True Detective: Night Country,” “Euphoria”. The platform will also offer the “Lord of the Rings” and the upcoming “Harry Potter” series. Moreover, the HBO Orginal, Max Original and Warner Bros. TV series will premiere on JioCinema on the same day as the United States.
While the financial details of the said deal are yet to come out, it has been reported that it is a multi-year agreement starting from next month onwards.
According to Warner Bros. President for India, Southeast Asia, and Korea Clement Schwebig, the partnership is a part of the studio’s commitment to the South Asian market as it works to expand the scope of its regional operations.
In January this year, Viacom18 won the media rights of the Women’s Indian Premiere League (WIPL) for Rs 951 crores. In June last year, Viacom18 won the digital streaming rights of men’s IPL from 2023 to 2027 for around Rs 23,758, which was earlier streamed by Disney Hotstar.
After the IPL, HBO content is the second major content to move from Hotstar to JioCinema.
