Lionsgate has sold its South Asian and Southeast Asian streaming operation Lionsgate Play to Rohit Jain, the executive who developed the service during an eight-year tenure as president of Lionsgate Play Asia.
The studio disclosed the deal Tuesday. Jain will leave Lionsgate to take ownership of the streaming platform, while the studio retains its theatrical distribution and television production operations across the two regions.
Jain has secured a multi-year licensing deal that grants him rights to use the Lionsgate Play branding and draw from the studio’s content catalog for the streaming service.
Lionsgate Play maintains active operations in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives. The service primarily utilizes a B2B2C distribution model through long-term partnerships with telecommunications providers. In India, the platform is integrated into various aggregators such as JioHotstar, Airtel Xstream, and Amazon Prime Video Channels. For 2026, the company is executing a content slate that includes 100 planned premieres for the year, with a specific focus on expanding its regional Indian library with 25 new titles across the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada languages.
“We thank Rohit for his outstanding leadership in building and scaling Lionsgate’s business in India over the past eight years,” said Lionsgate COO Brian Goldsmith. “Under his stewardship, the Lionsgate brand has gained greater resonance with audiences in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and Lionsgate Play has emerged as a distinctive premium streaming platform in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital entertainment markets. Rohit is an entrepreneur with a deep understanding of the Asia landscape, and he has the expertise and experience to lead Lionsgate Play into an exciting new phase of growth.”
“I’m deeply grateful to Jon Feltheimer and Brian Goldsmith for the trust and freedom to build Lionsgate’s India business and transform Lionsgate Play into a premium streaming platform across Asia,” said Rohit Jain. “Lionsgate Play has established itself as a leading destination for Hollywood content in India and is now positioned to expand well beyond that – shaping a differentiated, future-ready streaming platform for the region.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
