Bodhi TreeMultimedia

Bodhi Tree Multimedia announced on June 24 that it has won a mandate from the Government of Assam to build and operate the state's official digital content platform. The platform will host regional entertainment, cultural programming, films, music, and creator-led content across mobile, web, and connected TV. The project positions Bodhi Tree at the intersection of digital public infrastructure and regional content monetisation. The company will oversee development, content strategy, subscription management, and long-term operations, marking a shift from a pure-play content producer to a technology-enabled platform manager. Bodhi Tree said core technology architecture is already complete, with efforts now focused on branding and content onboarding. The mandate could serve as a replicable model for similar cultural digitisation initiatives by other state governments, the company noted.

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June 24 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• BODHI TREE MULTIMEDIA - SECURES ASSAM GOVERNMENT MANDATE FOR OFFICIAL DIGITAL CONTENT PLATFORM

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Dec 31 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• BODHI TREE MULTIMEDIA LTD - APPROVES ACQUISITION OF 50.01% OF MOVING IMAGE STUDIOS

• BODHI TREE MULTIMEDIA LTD - TOTAL CONSIDERATION IS 70 MILLION RUPEES

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Jan 7 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• BODHI TREE MULTIMEDIA - COLLABORATES WITH KP PRODUCTIONS

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April 29 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• TO CONSIDER RAISING OF FUNDS

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Feb 8 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• BODHI TREE MULTIMEDIA LTD - RECOMMENDED SPLIT / SUB-DIVISION OF SHARES

• BODHI TREE MULTIMEDIA LTD - SHARES OF CO SPLIT FROM FACE VALUE OF 10 RUPEES EACH TO FACE VALUE OF 5 RUPEES EACH

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Oct 26 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• APPROVED ISSUE OF SHARES VIA RIGHTS ISSUE WORTH 499.9 MILLION RUPEES

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May 17 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• APPROVED ISSUANCE OF SHARES ON RIGHTS BASIS WORTH UPTO 2 BILLION RUPEES

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May 12 (Reuters) - Bodhi Tree Multimedia Ltd BODI.NS:

• BODHI TREE MULTIMEDIA LTD - TO CONSIDER RAISING OF FUNDS

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In first paragraph, adds dropped words "in India"

By Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

MUMBAI, April 28 (Reuters) - The video streaming business of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest person, is likely to focus on pricing and local content following a deal with Warner Bros as it seeks to challenge the likes of Disney and Netflix in India, industry sources said.

Under the content deal announced on Thursday, popular series from HBO and Warner Bros WBD.O, such as Harry Potter and Succession, will be available from next month on the JioCinema platform, which Ambani's Viacom18 has promoted for weeks by offering popular IPL cricket matches for free.

A pricing strategy for JioCinema is still under discussion internally, an industry source said, but Ambani has a reputation of disrupting rivals in the price-sensitive Indian market with cheap offers. In 2016, he offered mobile data for free, making his Jio telecom service India's top player. He is adopting a similar strategy to promote his consumer goods to rival Coca-Cola KO.N and Nestle.

Viacom18, the broadcast division of Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Its shareholders also include Paramount Global PARA.O as well as Bodhi Tree, a joint venture between James Murdoch and former top Disney executive, Uday Shankar.

The Warner deal, industry executives and media analysts said, will boost Viacom18's already announced plans to "innovate and disrupt" the sector, and help to attract the premium English speaking audience in India.

At stake is a slice of a video streaming market that is expected to grow annually by 22%-25% to reach $13-$15 billion by 2030, according to a 2021 report by Indian lobby group CII and the Boston Consulting Group.

That compares with projected annual growth of 8.63% in the U.S. market, which is expected to hit $54.66 billion by 2027, according to Statista.

While Netflix and other rivals boast of content specially created for the India audience, JioCinema's current free offerings largely include old Hindi and local language movies. In sports, it has IPL cricket streaming rights until 2027 and in March bagged exclusive rights for MotoGP in India.

The big challenge is lack of fresh local and global content on JioCinema, something that will be become even more critical as the IPL season ends next month.

JioCinema is in talks with various production studios and has plans to introduce dozens of TV shows and movies on the platform in the coming months, in Hindi and other languages, a second industry source told Reuters on Friday.

"There are many Indias within India. While IPL is for the masses, partnership with Warner is a precursor to JioCinema's entry into the premium subscription segment," said Mihir Shah, vice president at Media Partners Asia.

Nitesh Kripalani, former country head of Amazon's Prime Video in India, said he expects Reliance's venture to do more such deals, but pricing remains key.

"India is a value conscious market. For any media business, anywhere in the world - you need to get consumers to pay. Advertising can only pay so much," he said.

Netflix NFLX.O, Amazon AMZN.O and Disney DIS.N Hotstar have become popular in India by launching exclusive movies and web series starring Bollywood actors. They have also diversified into regional local language content.

At present Netflix - which has most the expensive subscription plans - has just 8 million subscribers, Amazon has 17 million, while Disney, which earlier had the digital rights for IPL, leads with 49 million, according to Media Partners, which doesn't have data for JioCinema's free service.

Karan Taurani, a vice president of India's Elara Capital, sad JioCinema's success will hinge on quality of its content.

"They may make so many films and series but (what if) more than 70-80% of them bomb? The only way to scale up is to really differentiate your content and make sure execution is right," he said.

(Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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Adds context, source comment

By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, April 27 (Reuters) - The broadcast venture of India's Reliance RELI.NS has struck a deal with Warner Bros Discovery Inc. WBD.O for its streaming platform JioCinema, a big push into bringing popular Hollywood content on the platform, two sources with direct knowledge said.

The deal between Reliance's Viacom18 would see Warner Bros as well as its HBO content becoming available on Reliance's JioCinema app, including popular shows such as Succession, Game of Thrones and the upcoming Harry Potter series, the sources said.

The sources did not disclose the financials of the deal.

The first source said the partnership will be exclusive and see most of Warner's marquee content on the JioCinema platform. Warner cannot offer most of its popular titles to other Indian rivals including Amazon AMZN.O Prime Video and Disney DIS.N Hotstar, said one of the sources.

"It's a deep exclusive arrangement which will make JioCinema the house of Warner, HBO in India," said the person.

Warner did not immediately respond, while Viacom18 had no immediate comment.

The content deal could bring in thousands of hours of streaming content onto JioCinema, which has become popular for streaming the IPL cricket tournament on the platform for free in the ongoing season.

Viacom18 won the IPL digital streaming rights from 2023 to 2027 for around $2.9 billion, rights which Disney previously held.

Several of HBO's top rated shows, including Succession, aired in India on the Disney Hotstar platform until March 31 this year, as part of a deal between the two companies that ended on the date.

Viacom18 recently received an investment of $528 million from Bodhi Tree, a joint venture between James Murdoch and a former Star India executive, Uday Shankar.

The first source added that Warner so far had various arrangements with Indian streaming giants, but the Viacom-Warner deal will see consolidation of that library and will include HBO, Max and Warner content, among others.

JioCinema is seeking to compete with rivals including Netflix and Amazon in a market where such platforms are becoming increasingly popular, thanks to cheap data prices.

But JioCinema is a small player. Netflix outperforms rivals in the subscription video-on-demand market, commanding a 39% share by revenue in 2021 compared to nearest rival Hotstar's 23%, according to Media Partners Asia.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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