The Reliance and Disney Joint Venture has launched JioHotstar. This platform merges Jiocinema and Disney+ Hotstar content to offer a refreshed version of Disney+ Hotstar.
This brings India’s top sports events under one platform, including the Indian Premier League (IPL), ICC tournaments, and the English Premier League (EPL).
JioHotstar will also offer content from big international studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., HBO, NBCUniversal Peacock, and Paramount. However, the platform will no longer offer completely free IPL streaming. Instead, it aims to turn its large audience into paying subscribers.
The platform will adopt a hybrid model that will allow users to watch some content for free at first. But based on their viewing habits, they will need to subscribe.
Subscription plans start at Rs 149 for three months with ads, while an ad-free premium plan costs Rs 499.
The current subscribers of both JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar will automatically switch to the new JioHotstar app once their subscriptions end, and the JioCinema app will be discontinued.
Reliance merged with Disney’s Indian business to form JioStar in late 2024 for $8.5 billion. It now dominates 85% of India’s streaming market and reaches half of the country’s TV audience.
The platform offers 300,000+ hours of content in 10 Indian languages and has a massive user base of 500 million viewers.
