The head of Disney and Reliance Industries’ newly merged $8.5bn Indian entertainment titan plans to invest and “revitalise” television in the world’s most populous country even as western media organisations increasingly see it as a dying medium.

Reliance Industries and Walt Disney on Thursday completed the $8.5 billion merger of their Indian media assets, which have been split into three divisions, with each unit having its own CEO. The companies said the newly formed divisions are entertainment,

The joint venture has combined revenue of $3.1 billion and over 100 TV channels, 50 million subscribers, and 30,000 hours of TV entertainment content annually

Disney merger has established the leading media and entertainment conglomerate in India. The combined entity will feature more than 100 TV channels and two streaming platforms.

Reliance Industries Limited, Viacom18 and Disney on November 14 announced that following the approval by the NCLT Mumbai, Competition Commission of India and other regulatory authorities, the merger of the media and JioCinema businesses of Viacom18 into Star India Private Limited has become effective.

Disney and Reliance Industries have completed the $8.5B deal to form a media and entertainment giant in India. This brings together Reliance’s JioCinema business with Disney’s Star India, which houses Disney+ Hotstar,