Lionsgate has offloaded its South and Southeast Asian streaming business, Lionsgate Play, to the executive who built it, Rohit Jain. This marks a clean break from direct-to-consumer ambitions in the region, while keeping one foot in the game through a licensing and content supply agreement.
Jain, who launched the platform and scaled it over eight years as President of Lionsgate Play Asia, is acquiring full ownership of the service and exiting the company entirely. He has secured a multi-year licensing agreement that grants continued use of the Lionsgate Play brand and ongoing access to the studio’s content library.
From Lionsgate’s perspective, the move is a clear signal. Streaming in Asia is no longer a core priority. The company will continue to operate its film distribution and television production businesses in the region but has opted to divest the DTC platform, likely in pursuit of higher-margin opportunities or strategic simplification ahead of a larger corporate restructuring or sale.
What Jain is getting is a fully built platform with brand equity in high-growth markets, an established B2B2C model, and strong distribution via major telecom and aggregator partnerships in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and other territories. The service is currently integrated into bundles with JioCinema, Airtel Xstream, and Prime Video Channels, and will continue to lean into this strategy under Jain’s leadership.
The roadmap ahead is aggressive. One hundred premieres are slated for 2026, with a deliberate expansion into regional Indian content, including 25 new titles in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
In a post-sale statement, Lionsgate COO Brian Goldsmith praised Jain’s leadership and regional expertise, emphasizing the company’s confidence in his ability to steer Lionsgate Play into its next phase of growth.
While no financial terms were disclosed, the implications are clear. Lionsgate is exiting the streaming battlefield in Asia. Jain believes the platform can grow beyond its Hollywood-centric roots and evolve into a regional player with broader relevance. He is betting that a leaner, independent Lionsgate Play can scale more effectively in the fragmented, high-potential markets of South and Southeast Asia.
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