By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The head of U.S. giant

Disney's ( DIS ) Hotstar streaming app in India, Sajith Sivanandan, has

resigned, three sources said on Thursday, as business

integration gathers pace after the company's $8.5 billion merger

with Reliance's India media assets.

The resignation comes days after an internal decision for

all live sporting events of the merged entity, including the

popular Indian Premier League (IPL), to be streamed on Disney's ( DIS )

Hotstar app, and not Reliance's JioCinema.

That was the first major step in integration after the deal

to create India's biggest entertainment company.

However, the leadership has yet to decide if JioCinema will

continue as a separate app, said two of the sources, who all

spoke on condition of anonymity, as the discussions are private.

Sivanandan, Disney ( DIS ) and Reliance did not respond to queries

from Reuters.

After the merger, Disney ( DIS ) and Reliance will together have

more than 100 TV channels and two streaming apps, and will

compete with Sony ( SONY ), Netflix ( NFLX ) and Amazon Prime.

Sivanandan worked at Hotstar for more than two years after

working at Google for 15 years.

JioCinema is currently led by Kiran Mani, another former

Google executive who has been associated with

Reliance's media unit for about a year.

Reliance's JioCinema has the rights to IPL cricket, a

money-spinner that is among the most-streamed content, as well

as to the Winter Olympics and Indian Super League football.

Hotstar has rights to the International Cricket Council's

tournaments in India and English Premier League soccer.