Disney+ streaming service has now finally arrived in India. The company has today rolled out the service in the Indian market through its existing on-demand video streaming service Hotstar which it had acquired as a part of the Fox deal.
With the launch of Disney+, the Hotstar service has now been rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar. The service was set to launch in India on 29th March, coinciding with the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season. But, with IPL getting delayed because of coronavirus, the launch of Disney+ was also postponed.
Disney+ Hostar will now provide access to Disney Originals in English as well as several local languages, and thousands of movies and shows. It will also stream live sporting events, which is the USP of Hotstar and helped the company set records in terms of live-stream viewers.
The platform will also offer content sourced from HBO, Showtime, ABC and Fox as Hotstar already has syndication partnerships with those companies.
While Disney+ supports 4K streaming in the United States and other markets, the feature has not been made available in India. That could be because the company is offering cheaper yearly plan, priced at just ₹399 (~$5.3), giving access to movies, non-premium shows, and live sporting events but it won’t include Disney Originals. There’s another premium subscription that costs ₹1,499 per year with full access.
Earlier, Hotstar was offering plans priced at at ₹999 and ₹365 for the premium and VIP packages. The company has said that existing subscribers won’t be affected by the price revision for the duration of their current subscription.
