JioCinema turns choosy; Jio Studios looks for new content buyers

livemint.com:

Reliance Industries Ltd-owned production house Jio Studios is looking beyond sister concern JioCinema to stream its movies and web shows after the latter declined much of its content, two people aware of the matter said. Jio Studios has also stopped green-lighting new projects in the backdrop of many completed projects remaining unsold, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. While Jio Studios claims that streaming all titles on JioCinema was never part of the plan, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity that Uday Shankar, the influential top investor of JioCinema, has refused to screen all titles commissioned by Jio Studios, prompting it to look for outside buyers.

In April 2023, Bodhi Tree Systems, a joint venture between Shankar and James Murdoch, acquired a 13% stake in Reliance-owned Viacom18, which houses Jio Cinema. As part of the deal, Shankar, who earlier led Disney’s Asia-Pacific operations, joined the board of Viacom18. According to the people cited above, Shankar has vetoed streaming many of Jio Studios’ titles since then.

However, all of Jio Studios productions were not expected to be streamed on JioCinema, said Jyoti Deshpande, president of Reliance’s media and content business. “While the platform (JioCinema) may be our preferred partner, it isn’t reasonable for any one service to consume so much content. If there is a strategy fit with JioCinema, the title will go there; else, we will look at others," Deshpande said.