JioHotstar Launches Internationally & Brings Back The Star Brand

Today marks a major shift within Disney’s international streaming plans with the launch of JioHotstar in the UK, Canada and Singapore, which will replace their existing streaming service, Hotstar.

The platform offers premium Indian entertainment such as television, films, regional programming, non-fiction, kids and anime. Designed to resonate deeply with the South Asian diaspora while appealing to a broader global audience seeking diverse stories, languages, and cultures, the platform will continuously expand with over 30,000 hours of fresh content added annually.

Disney acquired Hotstar as part of its acquisition of 20th Century Fox in early 2019 and quickly rebranded the platform as Disney+ Hotstar, looking to leverage the streaming service’s strong footprint in India.  It also rebranded the Hotstar app in the UK, Singapore and Canada to look very similar to Disney+ (even adopting the same colour scheme), while in the United States, the Hotstar app was closed down and the content was moved into Hulu and ESPN.  

While the rebranding of Disney+ Hotstar in India delivered tens of millions of new subscribers to Disney+ globally, the Indian business worked differently and earlier this year, Disney agreed to enter into an agreement with Reliance to merge JioCinema with Disney+ Hotstar to become JioHotstar.

As part of this change, we are also seeing changes to how Disney+ operates in many countries around the world, as in some regions across Asia, Europe and South Africa, they used a different version of Disney+, which was known internally as Hotstar X.  From today, they will be migrated over to the same version of the Disney+ app used everywhere else.  

This isn’t the only big change within Disney’s branding, as back in 2021, the Star brand was used to launch the general entertainment section of Disney+ internationally.  Star had previously been part of 20th Century Fox’s Indian entertainment division, but once Disney gained full control of the Hulu brand from Comcast, it rebranded Star to Hulu.    It also closed down the Star+ streaming platform that launched in Latin America, which was a combination of Hulu & ESPN, eventually merging it all into Disney+.

Years ago, Disney also rebranded some of the Star linear channels in the UK and Europe, to Utsav.  But last month, the Star brand was brought back, with the much-loved Star Plus, Star Gold and Star Bharat linear channels returning to UK & European audiences.

Speaking about the brand transition, Amit Malhotra, Head of International Business, JioStar, said:

“Star has always been close to the hearts of UK audiences and this legacy is something we deeply cherish. The return of the brand marks a new chapter for our viewers across the UK & Europe and we look forward to entertaining them with the same commitment that has defined Star for generations. We remain dedicated to delivering the best entertainment through iconic stories, characters and experiences that connect generations.”

The launch of JioHostar in the UK, Canada and Singapore marks the next chapter in Reliance’s vision of Infinite Possibilities and its journey towards becoming a global entertainment platform. The launch goes beyond taking JioHotstar’s extensive entertainment catalogue to new markets. It brings audiences a new way to discover, watch and engage with entertainment, combining 160K+ hours of content across 12+ languages and multiple genres with personalised recommendations, interactive features, flexible subscription options and a delightful product experience.

JioHotstar, the ultimate entertainment streaming destination, kicks off its international launch with a diverse line-up of entertainment spanning new originals, iconic franchises, and a vast television content offering, including:

• New Originals & Blockbuster Premieres: A slate of originals including Ali Baba Aur Chaalis Bhoot, Prince of Mollywood, Part Timers, The Court and more alongside blockbuster movie premieres through the year.
• Bigg Boss, Now Interactive: The iconic reality franchise Bigg Boss returns across six languages, and for the first time, audiences across Singapore, Canada and the UK will be able to vote LIVE across every edition, giving them the power to actively participate in and influence the game in real time. While audiences in Canada and the UK will have access to the 24×7 LIVE Feed, Canada will also be able to watch Bigg Boss Hindi 7 days ahead of its TV broadcast.
• A New Game Show Format: Audiences in Canada and Singapore can witness the magic of Anil Kapoor hosting India Ka Top 1 Percent, a new format that tests contestants’ logic and reasoning.
• Content from JioStar TV Channels with Early Access: Audiences can access content from JioStar television channels, including Star Plus, Colors, Star Vijay, Asianet, Star Jalsha and Star Pravah, with Before-TV access to popular shows in Singapore and Canada, including Anupama, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Seher Hone Ko Hai, Azhagae Azhagu, while audiences in the UK can watch popular shows simultaneously with their TV broadcast, alongside regional and daily entertainment.

This new line-up sits alongside the breadth that JioHotstar is already known for, with one of the most expansive entertainment libraries that brings together entertainment across genres and generations. The library includes award-winning and critically acclaimed originals such as Criminal Justice, Special Ops, Chiraiya, Pritam & Pedro, Asur, Aarya, Heartbeat, Vikram on Duty, Kerala Crime Files, Resort, Kaattaan, and more; blockbuster reality franchises including Koffee with Karan, Bhojpuri Bawaal, Khatron Ke Khiladi, MTV Hustle, Splitsvilla, Laughter Chefs – Unlimited Entertainment, Roadies, Cooku with Comali; popular and critically acclaimed movies including Vaazha, Dhurandhar; Chhichhore, Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh; Kill,12th Fail, Jab We Met, and more.

Available across mobile and Connected TV, JioHotstar is designed to give audiences the flexibility to experience entertainment wherever and however they choose. The app will be available to download through the App Store and Google Play Store across the UK, Canada and Singapore.

Built around evolving viewing habits, JioHotstar is also introducing new quarterly subscription plans across all three markets for the first time, giving audiences a shorter-duration option to access the platform alongside annual plans. To deliver a friction-free transition, existing Hotstar subscribers across these markets can seamlessly log in with their current credentials and automatically transition to an equivalent JioHotstar plan without service disruption. In the UK, existing subscribers can continue to enjoy their current monthly subscription plans until auto-renewal remains active. The updated app also streamlines the onboarding journey, allowing Android users across all three regions to subscribe directly within the app.

The updated pricing, effective 2^nd September across markets, is as follows:

Market	Quarterly	Annual
UK	GBP 19.99	GBP 69.99
Canada	CAD 19.99	CAD 49.99
Singapore	SGD 29.98	SGD 69.98

In addition to this, JioHotstar’s product interface is built to make discovery effortless and viewing deeply immersive for audiences across the UK, Canada and Singapore. Designed with an intuitive, modern UI/UX and powered by ultra-personalised recommendation engines, the platform adapts seamlessly to individual viewing habits. Enhancing accessibility for multi-generational and cross-cultural households, the platform offers high-quality subtitles and dubs across 12+ Asian languages, including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, and more, ensuring world-class entertainment is more inclusive and interactive.

Commenting on JioHotstar’s international expansion and vision for global streaming, Amit Malhotra, Head – International Business, JioStar, said in a statement regarding the launch:

“Streaming has spent the last decade competing on the size of its catalogue. We believe the bigger opportunity now is to reimagine how audiences experience entertainment; not just what they watch, but how they discover, engage with and shape the experience in real time. South Asian audiences have a deep connection with Indian entertainment across languages, generations and households. At the same time, audiences globally are increasingly seeking stories and cultures beyond their own. We see an opportunity to build for this broader, underserved global audience – not simply export an Indian streaming service to new markets.  As we expand internationally, our ambition is to show what becomes possible when scale, language, cultural diversity, personalisation and deeper audience participation are built into the streaming experience from day one.”

Roger’s Take:  Today seems like a major step for the partnership between Disney and Reliance, as JioHotstar steps away from Disney+ in many ways.      This rebranding always felt more of a “when” than an “if”, since it makes sense to have the same branding globally.   We’ve basically seen Disney revert the entire Star brand to what it was before they took over.   I always thought the Star brand wasn’t strong enough to be a global brand to go up alongside Marvel, Star Wars or National Geographic, with it being used as a crutch until they could use the Hulu brand.  

In the United States, I wouldn’t be surprised if JioHotstar launches in the future, with the Hotstar content currently showing on ESPN and Hulu, is moved over, especially as the Hotstar content hasn’t been made available on Hulu On Disney+ for years, which I think has been an indication that this was always the plan.

While the idea of a global streaming service makes sense on many levels, it doesn’t always work, and we can see how Disney fumbled with the Star/Hotstar business, as now everything has basically returned to how it was before they took control.   Wasting millions of dollars on marketing and development in the process. 

The good news is that fans of Indian content in the UK, Canada and Singapore can now have access to the best version of the platform, which will no longer be seen as an afterthought. 

What do you think of the Star brand returning and JioHotstar launching internationally?  Let me know on social media!