On Tuesday, the JioStar website went live, with the text on the screen simply reading, ‘Coming soon’. This marks a new chapter in the months-long merger that has been underway between Reliance Industries Limited’s Viacom18, and Disney Star India. In the months since the merger’s official announcement in February, there has been speculation about the road ahead for the two media networks’ OTT arms, JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. With JioStar expected to be fully functional on November 14 midnight, an insider tells mid-day that the content of the two platforms will be merged. “The merging of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar will be complete by November 13. After JioStar goes live on November 14 midnight, the content of both streamers will be available on this platform under separate sub-domains,” reveals a technical hand from JioCinema.

The question now is: What does the merger imply for the multiple channels under the two networks? While Disney Star brings with it over 20 channels across general entertainment, sports and movies, Viacom18 has its own bouquet that includes Colors and regional channels. A production source from Star says, “Both Star and Colors have multiple regional channels targeting Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, Kannada audiences and more. So, instead of the two channels vying for the same viewers, the content of the weaker channel will be merged into the more popular counterpart. For instance, Star Marathi is doing considerably better than Colors Marathi; so, the latter will dissolve into the former. If there is a stand-out show that brings in high TRPs or pulls in a new audience, it will be retained. An example of this is Anupamaa, which is originally a Star offering. But largely, the idea is to stop replication of channels. In addition, there are many Hindi general entertainment channels, including Star Bharat, Star Plus, Star Utsav, and so on. These could be in direct competition to Colors TV. So, the channels will merge in the near future after a final programming has been locked. The final branding of these channels will be determined in the months to come.”