India’s entertainment landscape shifted Thursday as Reliance Industries and Disney completed their long-awaited media merger, creating an Indian powerhouse valued at $8.5 billion. The deal combines Disney’s Star India with Reliance’s Viacom18 and streaming platforms JioCinema and Hotstar.

The merger creates India’s largest media group with annual revenue of $3.1 billion, combining streaming platforms JioCinema and Hotstar with more than 100 television channels. The venture claims over 50 million streaming subscribers and will produce 30,000 hours of television content annually.

Disney and Reliance Industries have completed the $8.5B deal to form a media and entertainment giant in India.

The transaction valued the joint venture (JV) at $8.5 Bn (INR 70,352 Cr) on a post money basis

Reliance Industries holds a 16.34 per cent stake in the JV, while its step-down unit Viacom18 holds 46.82 per cent and Disney the rest 36.84 per cent

Disney merger has established the leading media and entertainment conglomerate in India. The combined entity will feature more than 100 TV channels and two streaming platforms.

Reliance Industries Limited, Viacom18 and Disney on November 14 announced that following the approval by the NCLT Mumbai, Competition Commission of India and other regulatory authorities, the merger of the media and JioCinema businesses of Viacom18 into Star India Private Limited has become effective.