Type of business | Joint Venture |
---|---|
Type of site | OTT platform |
Available in |
|
Dissolved | 9 August 2023 |
Successor(s) | JioCinema |
Headquarters | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
Area served | India United Kingdom (Virgin Media only) United States (Sling TV only) |
Owner | Joint Venture between Network18 86.92% Viacom 18 13.08% (2016–2023) |
Industry | |
Products | |
Services |
|
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | 29 March 2016 |
Current status | Discontinued |
Voot was an Indian subscription based video-on-demand and over-the-top media streaming service that was a joint venture between Viacom 18 with Network18, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Network18 was the majority share holder in the joint venture. The service was initially launched on 4 May 2016. It initially launched as an advertising-supported service, before introducing a subscription tier in 2020 under the Voot Select banner.
Launched in March 2016, Voot initially operated as an advertising-supported service. [1]
In February 2020, Voot introduced a paid subscription service known as Voot Select, offering exclusive original series, and early access to selected programmes before their television premiere. [2]
In April 2022, Reliance Industries and Paramount Global announced additional financial backing from Uday Shankar and James Murdoch's Bodhi Tree Systems to expand their streaming business. This would include Reliance's competing JioCinema service being brought under Viacom18. [3] [4] The agreement was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September 2022. [5]
The two services initially co-existed, but Voot began to wind down and migrate its content to JioCinema in August 2023, beginning with sports rights such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and upcoming rights to the Indian Premier League. [6] New series of Voot originals began premiering on JioCinema in June 2023. [7] [8]
In August 2023, Voot was shut down in favour of JioCinema.
Voot had content from Colors TV, MTV, Nickelodeon, and other Viacom18-owned television channels. It also hosted Bollywood films for streaming. [9] It had produced several 'Voot Originals' shows for streaming as well. In the children's segment, it worked on shows in Malayalam. [10]
In March 2021, it was announced that Voot Select would add original programming from U.S. parent company Paramount Global's upcoming global streaming service Paramount+, as well as selected CBS and Showtime original series. [11]
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Its businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is the largest public company in India by market capitalisation and revenue, and the 100th largest company worldwide. It is India's largest private tax payer and largest exporter, accounting for 7% of India's total merchandise exports.
Network18 Group, is an Indian media conglomerate, based in Mumbai. It is owned by Reliance Industries. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief of Network18 Group, and Adil Zainulbhai is the chairman of its board of directors.
JioSaavn is an Indian music streaming service and a digital distributor of music in Hindi, Marathi, English, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Chhattisgarhi and other regional languages of India. owned by Jio Platforms a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Since it was founded in 2007 as Saavn, the company has acquired rights to over 80 million music tracks in 16 languages. JioSaavn is a freemium service; basic features are free with advertisements or limitations, while additional features, such as improved streaming quality and music downloads for offline listening, are offered via paid subscriptions.
Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an independent Indian media conglomerate Joint Venture between Reliance Industries, Network18 and Bodhi Tree Systems. The Joint Venture had various channels and content production studios in India. Following merger of its assets with Disney Star, it continues to be largest shareholder in the newly formed merged entity.
Viacom18 Studios is an Indian film distribution and production company. It is a subsidiary of Viacom18 based in Mumbai and it is one of the first studio model based motion picture & content production business in India, with an operation that involves acquisition, production, syndication, marketing and worldwide distribution of full-length feature films as well as digital only films, web series, short films.
The Walt Disney Company India, also known as Disney India, is the Indian subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Reliance Retail is an Indian retail company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Founded in 2006, it is the largest retailer in India in terms of revenue. Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel, footwear, toys, home improvement products, electronic goods, and farm implements and inputs. As of 2023, it has over 245,000 employees at 18,000 store locations in 7,000 towns. Apart from physical stores, the company also sells products on its e-commerce channels.
JioStar, registered as Star India Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture. Reliance Industries owns 16.34%, Viacom18 holds 46.82% of the joint venture, while Disney India retains 36.84%. In November 2024, assets of Viacom18 merged with Disney Star, to form JioStar. It is the largest television & entertainment network in India and operates more than 100 TV channels and it owns two major streaming platforms Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema.
Disney+ Hotstar is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Viacom18 and Disney India.
Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures, CBS Studios, Paramount Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures, while also including original series and films, live streaming sports coverage, and in the United States, live streaming of local CBS broadcast stations.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is an Indian telecommunications company and a subsidiary of Jio Platforms, headquartered in Navi Mumbai. It operates a national LTE network with coverage across all 22 telecom circles. Jio offers 5G, 4G and 4G+ services all over India. Its 6G service is in the works.
Nita Ambani is an Indian philanthropist and businesswoman. She is the chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation, Dhirubhai Ambani International School and a director of Reliance Industries. She is married to Reliance Industries Limited's chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani. With a family fortune estimated in excess of US$117.8 billion, the Ambanis are among the richest in the world. She is also an art collector and the owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Mumbai Indians.
JioTV is an Indian streaming television service owned by Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. JioTV offers about 1000 live channels with 7 days of catch up content, as per the website.
Bigg Boss is an Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show Big Brother. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star Networks. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally available through the OTT platforms JioCinema, and Disney+ Hotstar with 24/7 live stream.
Star Sports Network is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by JioStar, that is a joint venture between Reliance Industries through its subsidiary Viacom18 and Disney India. that was formed in November 2024. The network currently holds rights of flagship tournaments like Indian Premier League, ICC Events, Premier League, ONE Championship, Wimbledon, Nepal Premier League etc.
Jio Platforms Limited is an Indian multinational technology company, headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Established in 2019, it acts as a holding company for India's largest mobile network operator, Jio, and other digital businesses of Reliance. Since April 2020, Reliance Industries has raised ₹152,056 crore (US$18 billion) by selling a 32.97% equity stake in the company. In August 2021, it was ranked 155th on the 2021 Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations.
JioCinema is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Viacom18 and Disney India. the service was initially launched on 4 May 2016 alongside the public launch of the Jio mobile carrier.
Bigg Boss OTT is a digital spin-off of the popular Indian Hindi-language reality show Bigg Boss franchise, streamed first on Voot for its initial season and later on JioCinema for the second season and JioCinema Premium for the third. Following the format of the Dutch reality game show Big Brother, developed by Endemol, Bigg Boss OTT has launched three seasons to date. The first season premiered on August 8, 2021, and was hosted by Karan Johar. The second season saw Salman Khan take over as the host, while Anil Kapoor hosted the recently concluded third season. As of now, 45 contestants have participated in Bigg Boss OTT, with 5 of them having also appeared in the main Bigg Boss seasons.
Jyoti Deshpande is an Indian businesswoman and film producer and former CEO of Viacom 18. She was formerly the Group CEO and managing director of Eros International. Jyoti is also the former co-chair of the Media & Entertainment Committee, FICCI.