The Founder Returns: Lionsgate Divests South Asia Streaming Business to Rohit Jain in Strategic Pivot

In a decisive move reshaping the Asian streaming landscape, Lionsgate has announced the strategic divestiture of its Lionsgate Play streaming service in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The platform has been sold to Rohit Jain, the executive who founded and scaled the service over the past eight years as President of Lionsgate Play Asia. The transaction, estimated at up to $30 million, marks a rare shift toward founder-led ownership in the premium OTT sector, occurring against the backdrop of Lionsgate’s broader restructuring following its separation from Starz in 2025.

The sale, confirmed this week, sees Jain acquiring full ownership of the platform while exiting his corporate role at Lionsgate to operate the service independently. While Lionsgate retains its core film and television distribution businesses in the region, it has entered a multi-year agreement to license the Lionsgate Play brand and its premium content library to the new entity.

The deal structure involves an upfront payment with subsequent tranches, valuing the asset at approximately $20–30 million—a figure that reflects both the platform’s established subscriber base and the broader industry trend of valuing profitability over pure scale. This divestiture allows Lionsgate to monetize a non-core asset while maintaining brand visibility in the high-growth Asian market, projected to reach $165 billion by 2029.

For Rohit Jain, this acquisition is a bet on agility and localization. “Lionsgate Play has established itself as a leading destination for Hollywood content in India and is now positioned to expand well beyond that,” Jain stated, emphasizing a shift toward a differentiated, future-ready platform.

Under corporate ownership, the platform often functioned as a downstream outlet for Lionsgate’s global slate. As an independent entity, it can pivot faster to address local tastes. Industry analysts note that this “founder-led” model may allow for sharper curation and faster decision-making, crucial for navigating the diverse markets of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

This shift to independent ownership has significant implications for the regional production ecosystem. Freed from a purely Hollywood-centric mandate, the new Lionsgate Play is expected to increase investments in local co-productions to compete with giants like Netflix and Prime Video. This creates immediate opportunities for the production services sector in Southeast Asia.

A more localized content strategy will likely drive demand for Filming in Thailand Support as the platform seeks to produce cost-effective, high-quality Asian originals. Thailand, with its world-class infrastructure and incentives, stands to benefit as a primary hub for these regional shoots.

• Bangkok Production Fixer: As Jain’s team greenlights new urban dramas, the need for a skilled Bangkok Production Fixer will be paramount to navigate the city’s dynamic locations.
• Film Production Company Phuket: For lifestyle and travel-centric content, we anticipate increased inquiries for a Film Production Company Phuket can trust to handle island logistics.
• Line Production Services Pattaya: Action and thriller genres, often staples of the platform, will likely leverage Line Production Services Pattaya for coastal shoots near the capital.

Furthermore, independent platforms are often more budget-conscious than global majors. This makes the Thailand Film Incentive Rebate a crucial factor. Navigating these rebates requires a knowledgeable Film Fixer Thailand can offer to ensure productions maximize their budgets. Whether it is securing a Local Fixer for Documentary Thailand shoots or managing complex logistics via Thailand Film Permit Services, the production ecosystem in Thailand is poised to support this new wave of content.

The divestiture sends ripples through a fiercely competitive market:

• Netflix & Disney+: With Netflix boasting over 300 million global subscribers and Disney+ Hotstar recalibrating its sports-heavy strategy, these giants rely on massive scale. Lionsgate Play’s move suggests that mid-sized players may survive not by fighting on scale, but by deepening engagement through specific niches.
• Asian Platforms: Regional players like Viu (Southeast Asia) and Wavve (South Korea) have thrived on localization. Lionsgate Play’s independence aligns it closer to this model. Meanwhile, iQIYI and Tencent Video continue to leverage joint ventures to export Chinese content, while JioCinema dominates the ad-supported tier in India.

HBO (Max) & Paramount+: As Warner Bros. Discovery pushes Max into Southeast Asia, they face a market where agility often trumps library size. Lionsgate’s exit from direct operations may serve as a case study for other US studios reconsidering their “direct-to-consumer” ambitions in fragmented Asian markets.

Advantages:

• Localization: Ability to greenlight projects that resonate culturally without Burbank’s approval.
• Speed: Faster deal-making for partnerships with telcos and local Video Production Services Bangkok providers.
• Focus: A singular focus on Asian P&L rather than being a rounding error in a global conglomerate’s earnings.

Disadvantages:

• Resource Constraints: Without a deep corporate war chest, the platform may struggle with the skyrocketing costs of customer acquisition.
• Content Pipeline: While the licensing deal secures current hits, long-term reliance on third-party content is risky if licensing fees escalate.

Fragmentation: In a market moving toward consolidation (e.g., the Reliance-Disney merger in India), standing alone is a bold, high-risk strategy.

Lionsgate’s sale to Rohit Jain may harbinger a new trend: the “de-corporatization” of streaming in emerging markets. As US studios face pressure to cut losses, we may see more assets spun off to local management teams who understand the terrain.

For the ecosystem—from the Film Fixer Thailand to the showrunner in Mumbai—this fragmentation is healthy. It ensures a diversity of buyers and a marketplace where culturally specific storytelling can thrive alongside global blockbusters.

CineAsia Films provides premier line producer and fixer services in Bangkok, Thailand, and across Southeast Asia. Contact us to navigate your next Hollywood or European film production in the region. contact@cineasiafilms.com