Disney has big plans for its existing theme parks, including investing $60 billion to expand its parks.
Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom
But what about NEW theme parks? With Universal expanding outside of Orlando and Hollywood, will Disney continue to expand internationally? Well, a new partnership could provide a hint that Disney might eventually put a theme park in India.
According to CNN, a theme park in India could eventually happen. Let’s start with some background on Disney’s history with India. When Disney bought 21st Century Fox, it also acquired the Star India network. That gave Disney a new audience of over 700 million people. However, it hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns. India has proven a challenge for Disney, particularly after the company lost streaming rights for the Indian Premier League cricket matches.
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Disney is trying to improve business in India, though. Reportedly, the company is in discussions with Reliance Industries, the company that beat Disney for those rights. The two companies seem to be considering combining their businesses in the country, giving 51% ownership to Reliance. The merger could happen as early as February 2024, per CNN.
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Disney CEO Bob Iger has previously said that the company is “looking … expansively” in India and “considering our options there.” While Disney’s TV business is currently doing well in the country, Hotstar, Disney’s streaming app in India, has lost millions of subscribers due to the loss of the deal to stream the cricket matches. In 2023, Hotstar also stopped streaming HBO content when HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, took that content to Reliance’s JioCinema.
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If Disney and Reliance merge, the combined entity would be huge and would include over 100 TV channels, as well as two streaming platforms. Considering streaming has always been Iger’s #1 priority since his return to the company, this idea might have some potential.
This partnership could involve more than streaming, as both companies have businesses outside of media and entertainment. Some industry experts believe that this could eventually involve the two coming together to build a theme park in India, according to CNN.
Will it happen? Who knows? But it’s certainly going to be interesting to see what happens if this merger happens and what comes out of it. We’ll keep an eye out for more details, so stay tuned to DFB for more.
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Interesting streaming content merger and market for content. But that is a long long long way to building a theme park in India. I personally think it is not a good idea or good use of money for Disney. They need to invest in movies and technology in their American parks as well as the other existing parks, branch out into building more corporate training and internships in the resorts and in their creative industries.
Disney needs a park in Australia! Specifically Perth. Sunniest capital city in Australia. Plenty of space for a decent size park. And we didn’t experience lockdowns like the rest of the world.