Pulling straight-out-of-a-film move, an anonymous app developer purchased jiohotstar.com, predicting the merger of Reliance’s Viacom 18 and Disney+ Hotstar. Issuing an open letter to the executives of Reliance Industries, he clarifies his willingness to sell the domain, but, at an amusing and unusual price.
The domain name JioHotstar currently leads to a simple landing page with the heading and subheading, ‘JioHotstar’ ‘Best of Entertainment, Streaming Soon’ and a letter. Addressed to the multi-national conglomerate Reliance, this Delhi developer shared how he predicted the merger in 2023 when he “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”. He researched and hypothesized that Viacom 18 (owned by Reliance) is a major player that has the potential to acquire Disney+ Hotstar and name it JioHotstar as they did in the case of JioSaavn.
He further shared his experience of being selected for the Cambridge University Accelerate program for one of his projects and how he wanted to learn from the best. Therefore, to fulfill his dream, he bought this domain hoping the merger would happen and he would get to study at his dream college, Cambridge. Stating his intentions, he wrote, “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.”
The merger is finally in its last leg, with sources claiming the two platforms, JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar to be integrated into one streaming service. Almost a dream come true for this opportunist, he asks Reliance to reach out to him for purchasing the domain in exchange for funding his full degree in entrepreneurship at Cambridge University. Signing off the letter as ‘a dreamer’, he ended it with a note saying, “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.”
The letter is now viral, and netizens are in a row about this tactic employed by this techie. Some of them applaud him for his smartness and far-sightedness.
However, some of them are calling him out for cybersquatting, an unethical practice of buying or registering an identical or similar domain name to an existing domain with the intention of profiting.
The merger has the potential to turn into India’s biggest entertainment company with rights to IPL, ISL, Winter Olympics, ICC tournaments, Pro Kabaddi League, Disney, HBO, NBC Universal, and Paramount Global. It will be interesting to see how both Jio and Disney react to this out-of-the-ordinary bargain for a domain name.
In recent updates, RelianceExecutive Ambujesh Yadav Ji, AVP, Commercials, on behalf of Reliance reached out to the techie and denied his request of £93,345 for his education. The anonymous user updated the landing page with the proceeds, “The request has been denied. Reliance will proceed with legal action. I hope they will reconsider this kind request. I wish such a large group could help. Thank you to all who shared and sent kind words. I don’t have the power to stand against Reliance.”