With the formal completion of the mega partnership between Jio and Star, the two sports broadcasting powerhouses have started their journey as a unified structure, as the eight home games for India against England at the start of 2025, in the division of three ODIs and five T20Is, will be the first major indication of the integration.
The promotions started a few weeks ago, and the properties will be shared across platforms, from next month. Jio Cinema is not the broadcaster for India’s five-match away series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia, but they are showing the day-basis highlights of the game, along with promoting the schedule of the upcoming fixtures.
The trip to England is a property of the Jio Cinema, but it falls under this arrangement despite the fact that its parent company, Viacom18, bagged the exclusive media rights from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for INR 5963 crore last September for five years.
Star Sports and Jio Cinema to telecast India’s home series against England in 2025
On December 23 (Monday), Star announced that the eight matches of India, which are scheduled from January 22 to February 12, will be broadcast live on Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar. But it doesn’t rule out the original platforms- Sports18 and Jio Cinema, from streaming and broadcasting the game.
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However, it appears, though, that Star’s platforms will serve as the primary broadcasters for India’s games. They have also confirmed this development through an official announcement on their social media platform.
However, the sources within the integrated company indicated that the series will also be available on the original platforms. Going forward, the Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan and Dubai, an ICC property claimed by the Disney Star, will also be available on Jio Cinema and Sports 18. India’s group games will be played at the Dubai International Stadium after the BCCI informed their decision only to make a trip across the border in Pakistan.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) announced the merger, where both Star and Jio formally came together last month to release the news.
“RIL, Viacom 18 Media Private Limited (Viacom18), and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) (Disney) today announced that following the approval by the Hon’ble NCLT Mumbai, Competition Commission of India and other regulatory authorities, the merger of the media and Jio Cinema businesses of Viacom18 into Star India Private Limited (SIPL) has become effective (the JV). In addition, RIL has invested Rs 11,500 crore (1.4 billion) into the JV for its growth. The JV has allotted shares to Viacom18 and RIL as consideration for the assets and cash, respectively.” It stated.
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The transition of the JV was around INR 70 crore, while at the closing of the transactions, the JV was controlled by the RIL and owned 16.34% by the RIL, 46.82% by Viacom18 and the rest 36.84% by Disney.
For a long time, Star Sports has been the home of India’s leading sports channel. They have held all the games, including India’s home fixtures, the ICC events, and the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, with the emergence of Sports18 and Jio Cinema, they faced challenges that resulted in sharing the IPL besides losing home matches while retaining the ICC rights only. Meanwhile, they have also grabbed the rights of Australia, including all the upcoming series down under and the Big Bash League (BBL).