Reliance had bagged the digital rights for IPL since 2023, and later struck a deal to show all of Team India's home games and the Indian domestic competition on their OTT platform - JioCinema. Disney Star, which lost the digital rights to Reliance, had been home to the online audience for several years since taking over the broadcast rights from Sony Sports Network from 2016. Disney Hotstar is once again going to be the home for IPL online viewers. According a report from Reuters, the newly merged Disney-Reliance joint venture in India will stream all live sporting events exclusively on Disney's Hotstar app. The report mentioned quoting three sources familiar with the matter. This marks the first big integration of Disney and Reliance's businesses since their $8.5 billion merger deal was announced earlier this year. Apart from IPL, the Indian cricket team's home matches and domestic season also will be streamed on HotStar. The decision to move all live sports streams to Hotstar was due to the platform's superior back-end technology, which is better suited to handle the large-scale demands of live content, one of the sources was quoted as saying by Reuters. The transition of live sports streaming from Reliance's app to Hotstar is expected to be completed by January next year. However, it is still unclear if the live streaming will be free like on JioCinema. There is still no clarity on whether both apps, JioCinema and Hotstar, will continue to operate independently for other entertainment content. JioCinema also holds rights for athletics and badminton events, while HotStar holds rights for Pro Kabaddi and Premier League. The two platforms also showcase many other sporting events. While JioCinema has streamed for free on both mobile and TV, Hotstar has only offered free streaming to their mobile users. IPL live streaming will return to Hotstar from the 2025 season. But there is every chance the auction and retention shows, which will happen in the next few weeks, could still be shown on JioCinema.