A landmark partnership in Indian entertainment: Mukesh Ambani, chair of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), announced a transformative merger with Disney and unveiled ambitious AI plans at the company’s annual general meeting.
- The $8.5 billion merger between RIL and Disney’s key entertainment assets in India received approval from the Competition Commission, subject to voluntary modifications.
- Ambani welcomed Disney to the “Reliance family,” describing the deal as the beginning of a new era in India’s entertainment industry.
- The strategy focuses on combining content creation with digital streaming to deliver affordable content across various consumer preferences.
Image Generation – The hottest AI tools in image generation.
Media and entertainment division performance: RIL’s media and entertainment arm demonstrated substantial growth, with Viacom18 leading the charge in the sports segment.
- The division achieved over $1.2 billion in revenue, representing a 49% growth.
- Viacom18, RIL’s entertainment arm, outperformed with 62% growth, driven primarily by its sports segment.
- JioCinema, the company’s streaming platform, reached significant milestones, including a 38% increase in Indian Premier League viewership and a 50% growth in total viewership.
Streaming and television achievements: JioCinema’s new subscription pack gained rapid traction, while RIL’s television channels dominated various segments.
- The streaming platform’s new subscription offering attracted 15 million paying subscribers within its first 100 days.
- Colors climbed to the top position among Hindi-language channels.
- RIL’s news networks, including News18, CNBC TV18, and CNN News18, led in viewership across various categories.
Digital properties and telecoms expansion: RIL’s digital platforms showed strong performance, while Jio set ambitious growth targets in the telecoms sector.
- Moneycontrol boasted 70 million unique visitors, with its premium service counting over 850,000 paid subscribers.
- Firstpost expanded globally, recording 127 million video views in July.
- Jio amassed over 490 million customers and completed its pan-India 5G network rollout.
- Ambani set a target to double Jio’s revenues and EBITDA within three to four years.
AI initiatives and future plans: Reliance unveiled its “Jio AI Everywhere For Everyone” vision, aiming to create a national AI infrastructure and develop cost-effective AI solutions.
- The company plans to build data centers to support AI services and create the “world’s lowest AI inferencing cost” in India.
- Reliance is developing “Jio Brain,” a suite of AI tools and platforms.
- The company will offer 100 GB of free cloud storage to Jio users starting in November during the Diwali festival holiday.
Implications for the entertainment industry: Ambani’s vision for AI in entertainment suggests a shift towards more personalized and engaging content experiences.
- The merger with Disney, combined with RIL’s AI initiatives, could potentially reshape the Indian entertainment landscape by offering tailored content at affordable prices.
- The focus on AI infrastructure and tools may give RIL a competitive edge in developing innovative entertainment solutions.
- However, the success of these ambitious plans will depend on effective implementation and consumer adoption of AI-driven entertainment experiences.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...