Delhi techies’ unique pitch for college funding — offers to sell JioHotstar domain to streaming giants

A Delhi-based app developer has taken a unique route to fund his goal of studying at Cambridge University — offering to sell the JioHotstar website domain name to either Reliance Industries (RIL) or Viacom18 for a fee.

Writing on the simply designed www.jiohotstar.com website, the techie addressed executives of RIL who were likely to seek to own the domain name as the company's deal with streaming giant Disney Hotstar+ deal was reported to be in the works.

Livemint has reached out to Reliance and JioCinema for their statements and this story will be updated to reflect the same.

In August 2024, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) both approved the proposed merger between Disney Star and RIL's Viacom18, paving the way for the largest deal in India's media and entertainment sector, creating an $8.5-billion entertainment network.

“Dear Executive of Reliance Industries, I am an app developer based in Delhi, currently working on my startup. In early 2023, while scrolling through social media, I came across a news piece stating that Disney+ Hotstar was losing daily active users after losing the IPL streaming license, and Disney is considering selling or merging Hotstar with an Indian competitor,” the techie wrote.

Funding for Cambridge Study

The person added that going by previous rebranding of Jio's acquisition of music app Saavn to JioSaavn, the conglomerate would likely follow the same process with Hotstar, and thus plans to capitalise on this.

“This led me to hypothesize that, since Sony and Zee were pursuing their own merger, Viacom 18 (owned by Reliance) is the only major player with sufficient resources to acquire Disney+ Hotstar. This reminded me of when Jio acquired the music streaming service Saavn, they rebranded it to JioSaavn, and changed the domain from Saavn.com to JioSaavn.com. I thought, “If they acquire Hotstar, they might rename it to JioHotstar.com.” I checked for the domain, and it was available. I was excited, as I felt that if this happened, I could fund my goal of studying at Cambridge,” he added.

Why Cambridge?

Explaining his goal of studying at Cambridge, the app developer in his online letter said that he worked on a project selected by the University's Accelerate programme in 2021. He added that as a Tier-II college-educated student, the exposure to the program made him want to pursue a full degree in entrepreneurship at the educational institute.

“In 2021, I was working on a project that was selected for the Cambridge University Accelerate program. It was a transformational experience for me. I couldn't crack IIT and always wanted to learn from the best, coming from a Tier-II college, being selected for this program was an incredibly valuable and practical experience. The startup program taught me many valuable lessons and provided insights into the ins and outs of startups for free, which was amazing. However, it was limited in scope — after all it was just a startup program,” he said.

“Cambridge also offers a full degree program in entrepreneurship, which I've always dreamed of pursuing but could never afford, It's Cambridge, quite expensive. When I saw this domain become available, I felt things might just fall into place. My intention of buying this domain was simple: if this merger happens, I might be able to fulfill my dream of studying at Cambridge,” he added.

Deal On The Table

The quick-thinking techie had a deal for the corporates, suggesting, “Now that the merger has actually happened, and news sources are confirming there will be only one site post-merger (either JioCinema or Hotstar.com), I believe JioHotstar.com would be a very fitting brand name for the merged entity. It maintains the brand equity of both brands and provides a rational transition for the current users of both sites.”

He added that this domain sale would be life-changing for him, stating, “To acquire this domain, kindly reach out to mail@jiohotstar.com from your company email address with an official letter attached, stating your authorization to purchase on behalf of Reliance Industries/Viacom18. For a multi-billion dollar company like Reliance, this will be a minor expense, but for me, the sale of this domain would be truly life-changing. Best Regards, A dreamer.”

There has been no media response yet from either Jio or Hotstar on this issue.