Harsh Sheth to Lead Star Bharat in New JV Between RIL, Viacom18, & Disney

Harsh Sheth has been appointed to lead the channel business for Star Bharat under the newly formed joint venture (JV) between Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Viacom18 Media, and The Walt Disney Company. Sheth, who has been with the former Disney Star for over a decade, most recently served as the Business Head for Hindi and English Movies for Disney Star and Hotstar, a role he assumed in July of the previous year. Over the years, Sheth has held multiple positions within the business and strategy domains at Times Network and the company previously known as Star India. He also has experience at TAM Media Research.

This new venture, which has been approved by Indian and global regulatory bodies, consolidates the media assets of Viacom18, JioCinema, and Star India into a single, powerful entity. The JV is valued at around Rs 70,352 crore (US$8.5 billion), with Reliance Industries taking the majority share of 56%. To fuel its growth, RIL has invested Rs 11,500 crore (US$1.4 billion). The alliance also includes contributions from Disney (36.84%) and Viacom18 (46.82%). This combined force will oversee iconic entertainment brands such as Star, Colors, JioCinema, and Hotstar, and will manage over 100 TV channels. The JV plans to produce more than 30,000 hours of content annually and reach a digital subscriber base of over 50 million.