“The Office” and other NBCUniversal movies will soon be available on JioCinema, India’s cheaper Netflix and Disney’s Hotstar competitor.
On Monday, Viacom18 announced a “multi-year” deal with NBCUniversal to bring “thousands of hours” of movies and TV episodes to India. The partnership follows Viacom18’s acquisition of HBO and other Warner Bros. assets for South Asia, stealing a key draw from Disney’s Hotstar.
Netflix may continue to provide NBCU content in India as the arrangement is not exclusive. However, JioCinema scoring these foreign catalogs should worry global heavyweights.
JioCinema, which has snatched numerous Hotstar stars, offers the cheapest mainstream streaming service. JioCinema Premium costs $12 per year, compared to $6 for Netflix.
The streaming service, which hosts the IPL cricket event and offers a free and ad-supported tier, will release NBC programming in a dedicated Peacock hub next month. However, Viacom18 stated that only paying subscribers can watch NBC content.
Uday Shankar and James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree support Viacom18, a joint venture between Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance and Paramount Global. Last month, Bodhi Tree cut their Viacom18 stake by 70% to $528 million from $1.78 billion. However, TechCrunch said Bodhi Tree would raise its Viacom18 holding.
According to Viacom18, its extensive deal with NBCUniversal includes content from Universal Television, UCP, Universal International Studios, Universal Television Alternative Studio, Sky Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, and Bravo.
The agreement includes hit shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation, Downton Abbey, Suits, The Mindy Project, Jurassic, Bourne, Shrek, The Mummy, and Pitch Perfect. The Fast franchise, including the newly released FastX and Christopher Nolan’s anticipated Oppenheimer, will also launch on JioCinema.
