Reliance’s Viacom18 Becomes Official Owner Of JioHotstar Domain

The latest WHOis records state Manish Painuly, Senior Director, Viacom18 as the registrant and administrative contact of jiohotstar.com

Originally, a Delhi-based engineer owned the rights to the domain name, before transferring ownership to Dubai-based siblings, Jainam and Jivika.

Source : Reliance

Reliance Industries became the official owner of the jiohotstar.com domain via its subsidiary, Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd. This put an end to the dispute regarding the domain name that has been going on for months now.

This conflict for legal and commercial usage of the domain name has been in the news for some time now. The latest WHOis records state Manish Painuly, Senior Director, Viacom18 as the registrant and administrative contact of jiohotstar.com, reported Business Standard.

The records show that the domain now is registered under Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd, headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Originally, a Delhi-based engineer owned the rights to the domain name, before transferring ownership to Dubai-based siblings, Jainam and Jivika.

Initially, the engineer demanded financial support for his educational aspirations from Cambridge University from Reliance in exchange for the domain, however, the corporate denied this demand.

After acquiring the website from the individual, the siblings handed over the domain to Reliance’s legal team last month without any charge in exchange and said this decision was voluntary.

"With all the discussions happening, we now think it might be best for Team Reliance to have this domain, if they want it. We are happy to give [JioHotstar domain] to them for free, with all the proper paperwork," the siblings said on the website.

Painuly has been with the firm for more than 16 years. His LinkedIn profile says he focuses on the digital transformation in Viacom18 and manages the entity’s digital products such as VOOT. Viacom18 is the joint venture between Reliance Industries’ TV18 and Paramount Global.

The company runs popular channels like Colors, Nickelodeon, MTV India, and VH1. The digital wing of the firm, JioCinema, has started gaining popularity after signing on as the official digital streaming platform for IPL.