Palia would remain with the organization during the transition period to ensure a smooth handover.

Ferzad Palia is associated with Viacom 18 Media serving the network for over two decades

Reliance’s streaming platform JioCinema crossed the 1.6 Cr mark of paying subscribers at the end of September 2024.

Jio Cinema’s chief commercial officer Ferzad Palia has reportedly resigned from his post after a long stint at Viacom18.

Palia will remain with the organization during the transition period to ensure a smooth handover, ET reported, citing sources close to the development.

JioCinema declined to comment on the development.

He is associated with Viacom 18 Media serving the network for over two decades.

Palia joined the company in 2004 and played a crucial role in the growth of JioCinema.

This comes at a time when recent industry discussions suggest that the merger of Reliance Industries and Disney India’s media assets is expected to be finalized this month.

Earlier, Reliance Group had said in a regulatory filing that the merger would be completed by the end of the third quarter of FY25.

The combined entity is expected to host over 100 television channels and two of the country’s largest OTT platforms: Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema.

The merger of Reliance Group-controlled media assets – TV18 Broadcast and E18 – with Network18 Media & Investments had already been sanctioned by the NCLT.

THE signing of binding agreements was announced earlier this year to form a joint venture, merging Viacom18 with Star India Private Limited.

It is worth noting that JioCinema has crossed the 1.6 Cr Paid Subscriber Mark end of September 2024 thanks to affordable monthly plans.

In his second quarter quarterly update (Q2) of FY25, Network18 said that the over-the-top (OTT) platform recorded 2x quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth during the period under review.