Disney+Hotstar's head Sajith Sivanandan quits

Sajith Sivanandan, who led Disney + Hotstar as head, has stepped down from his position, stated a Business Standard report.

This decision comes post an internal decision regarding all live sporting events of the merged entity, which includes IPL (Indian Premier League) to be streamed on Disney's Hotstar app, and not on Reliance's JioCinema app, further added the report.

It is yet to be decided by the leadership whether JioCinema, which has the rights to IPL cricket, will continue as a separate app.

Sivanandan began his career at Star TV and went on to work across The Gallup Organization, Affle UK, and Google.

On February 28, 2024, RIL’s Viacom18 inked a binding agreement with The Walt Disney Company to merge their media operations in India and form a joint venture that will see the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India being combined.

As a part of its growth strategy, Reliance Industries will invest Rs 11,500 crore. The transaction values the joint venture at Rs 70,352 crore on a post money basis.

After the above mentioned steps have been completed, 16.34 percent of the joint venture will be owned by Reliance and 46.82 percent by Viacom18 and 36.84 percent by Disney.

Read More: Reliance-Disney merger likely to close by first half of 2025