The unnamed techie who registered the JioHotstar site is willing to sell it to Reliance Industries for a tenth of the asking price, but the billionaire conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani has not yet made a proposal.
After the merger of Reliance’s media assets and Walt Disney’s India business, the Delhi-based app developer, who has been garnering social media attention for his unusual demand to finance his further education by selling the JioHotstar domain, hopes that a compassionate stance will be taken in order to avoid a legal battle with the corporate giant.
“I haven’t received any reply and proposal from reliance,” the anonymous technician responded to a PTI question on mail @Jiohotstar, the ID stated in the viral article.
“I don’t believe they also plan to pay in my instance. “I would be very pleased if they do,” he replied.
According to a number of legal experts, he has a “winnable case” and there is a reasonable possibility that he will receive even greater compensation.
But he also acknowledged that it’s about facing off against a horde of lawyers, particularly in nations like India where going to court is a form of punishment in and of itself.
“Anyone can purchase Domain right now. Reliance should take a com, I hope.Reliance has been contacted by PTI for a statement regarding the development, and their response is pending.
In a six-paragraph missive addressed to RIL officials, the techie identified himself as “A dreamer” and requested that the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led company pay for his further education in Cambridge in return for Jiohotstar.com.
He contributed to a project in 2021 that was chosen for the Cambridge University Accelerate initiative. For him, this incident changed his life.
He always desired to learn from the best from a Tier-II college because he was unable to pass IIT. Ardent position and at least purchase it for a tenth of the original price.”
“I’ve always wanted to pursue entrepreneurship, but I’ve never been able to finance Cambridge’s full degree program in the subject. It’s Cambridge, and it costs a lot. I had the impression that everything would work itself out when this domain became available. “I purchased this domain with the straightforward goal of pursuing my dream of attending Cambridge University if this merger materializes,” the post read.
While browsing social media in early 2023, he saw a story indicating that Disney+ Hotstar, an over-the-top (OTT) network, was losing daily active users following the loss of its IPL streaming license. Disney was also considering selling or combining Hotstar with an Indian competitor.
This made me believe that Viacom 18, which is controlled by Reliance, was the only significant participant with the financial means to purchase Disney+ Hotstar because Zee and Sony were pursuing their own merger. This brought to mind Jio’s acquisition of Saavn, a music streaming service, which they rebranded as JioSaavn and renamed from Saavn.com to JioSaavn.com.
“I assumed they might change the name to JioHotstar.com if they were to acquire Hotstar. The domain was available when I checked. I was thrilled because I believed that if this occurred, I would be able to finance my desire to attend Cambridge University,” the note read.
News outlets have confirmed that there will only be one website after the merger, which is either JioCinema or Hotstar.com.
“JioHotstar.com seems like a very appropriate brand name for the combined company. As he left a message for his “email address with an official letter attached, stating your authorization to purchase on behalf of Reliance Industries/Viacom18,” he stated, “It preserves the brand equity of both brands and offers a logical transition for the current users of both sites.”
“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,” he stated.
After deleting the first message, he later sent another one in which he thanked the “People of the Internet” and conveyed his profound appreciation to the attorneys who so kindly gave of their time and advice on a pro gratis basis.
“I’m still in awe at how this made it to German lawyers, from the Honorable Supreme Court and High Court to legal experts in Cambridge, London, California, Texas, and, shockingly, Berlin. I really appreciate your support,” he remarked.
He stated that his parents are “super super worried” after reading the news.
