Disney+ Hotstar Becomes JioHotstar In Major Streaming Shake-Up

Today, on Valentine’s Day, there has been a major shift in the streaming business in India as Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, have officially merged together, to form JioHotstar.

This new streaming service brings together all of Disney’s content, including Disney+ Originals and major theatrical releases, along with Reliance Industries’ original content from JioCinema and a wide selection of licensed shows and films from NBCUniversal Peacock, Warner Bros, Discovery, HBO, and Paramount. There is also a much bigger offering of live sports, including cricket events such as IPL, WPL, and ICC, in addition to other sports like the Premier League and Wimbledon.

The deal between Disney and Reliance was officially approved late last year, and Disney owns 36.84% of the new joint venture, JioStar. As part of the merger, JioStar has exclusive rights to distribute Disney films and productions in India and a license to more than 30,000 Disney content assets, providing a full suite of entertainment options for the Indian consumer.

Kiran Mani, CEO – Digital at JioStar, said in a statement that the platform is designed to allow users to experience its content without the need for an immediate subscription.

“The idea is to allow every consumer to sample our content extensively.  JioHotstar invites everyone to come and watch their favourite content without the need for a subscription. We want users to experience a full journey, whether it’s a cricket match or a popular TV series.”

As you might expect from the two platforms coming together, the existing subscribers may need to adjust their plans, as current subscribers to either platform can access JioHotstar.  There are three different tiers available, including:

• Rs 149 – Mobile – Access on one mobile device
• Rs 299 – Super – Access on two devices
• Rs 349 – Premium (Ad-Free) – Access on four devices

These prices are set for the next three months and there are also annual offerings.

JioHotstar will also offer features like AI-powered insights, real-time stats overlays, multi-angle viewing and 4K video. The platform has also launched an initiative to promote India’s top digital content creators called “Sparks.”

“At the core of JioHotstar is a powerful vision–to make premium entertainment accessible to all Indians. Our promise of Infinite Possibilities ensures that entertainment is not a privilege but a shared experience for all. By integrating AI-driven recommendations and offering streaming in over 19 languages, we are personalizing content like never before.”

Disney acquired Hotstar when it purchased 20th Century Fox and, in early 2020, relaunched the popular streaming service to Disney+ Hotstar, resulting in an instant boost of tens of millions of subscribers to Disney+ globally.  However, Disney struggled to keep that momentum going when its former CEO, Bob Chapek, decided not to spend billions of dollars on the expensive cricket league streaming rights, which ended up going to Reliance, resulting in Disney+ Hotstar losing millions of subscribers.

With the return of Disney CEO Bob Iger, he set out to make some changes as while Disney+ Hotstar had a huge subscriber count, it was only making less than a dollar per month from each subscriber, compared to nearly $7 a month from an international or domestic Disney+ subscriber. 

Iger said that not all countries are equal and Disney+ may not operate in every country. The following year, Disney agreed to a joint venture with Reliance, as Disney wanted to keep a hand in India but allow others to lead, where they struggled to understand the local market.

As of late 2024, Disney+ Hotstar had 35.9 million subscribers, and Disney has slowly been making adjustments in its quarterly financial reports to separate Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar, allowing their core streaming service to finally become profitable.

The launch of JioHotstar is going to be interesting since it will probably have a ripple effect globally on Disney+, as it’s unknown if Disney will also rebrand Disney+ Hotstar in other Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia soon.     There is also the question of whether Disney will continue using the Star brand, which originated in India, or if they will eventually rebrand it to Hulu for more brand synergy.   

There are also questions about how this change might impact Disney+ subscribers in many countries across the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, which have a slightly different version of the Disney+ app, which is based on the Hotstar app.  Could we see those countries shifted over to the same core client used across the Americas and Europe?

Disney also never incorporated its Indian original content into Disney+ globally, with Hotstar remaining a streaming service in some countries like the UK.  While it shut down the US streaming service to merge it with Hulu and ESPN, that content also isn’t available in Hulu On Disney+, which could indicate further changes in the future to where JioHotstar content may be found in the future in the US.

For those Disney+ Hotstar users in India, they’ve not got a mega streaming service, with a huge amount of content from some of the world’s biggest brands, which is a massive upgrade and while there will no doubt be some technical speed bumps during the transition, subscribers should get much more bang for their buck. 

What do you think of Disney+ Hotstar merging with JioCinema?  Let me know on social media!