Media365
JioStar, the joint venture between Reliance-owned Viacom18 and Walt Disney-owned Star India, has rolled out JioHotstar, which combines the catalogues of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar into a single streaming platform. JioHotstar also has a new logo: a ‘Big Bang’ that, the company says, represents “the dawn of a new era.”
The unified streaming platform hosts content from Disney+ Hotstar — including series, movies, and documentaries from Marvel, Pixar, Disney, Hotstar Originals, and National Geographic — and JioCinema, which has streaming rights to the entire catalogue of Peacock, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery HBO, and Paramount. That makes it the only platform to offer a wide content library from all leading streamers, accounting for over 3 lakh hours, which JioStar claimed will serve more than 500 million (50 crore) users.
As part of the revamp, Disney+ Hotstar branding for the app has been replaced by JioHotstar. JioCinema users will be redirected to JioHotstar when they play a movie or a show. Users have also been upgraded to JioHotstar Premium automatically, but the subscription will likely last the next few days. The app welcomes users with a “complimentary” subscription, urging them to “explore plans” for an “uninterrupted experience.”
Disney+ Hotstar’s subscriptions cost between ₹149 and ₹1,499, while JioCinema Premium was priced starting at ₹29 per month. According to the app notification, the complimentary JioHotstar Premium subscription will last till the next billing cycle of the JioCinema Premium membership, which will not be renewed from February 15. If a user has both JioCinema Premium and Disney+ Hotstar subscriptions, the JioHotstar Premium subscription will end with JioCinema Premium’s last date and Disney+ Hotstar subscription will continue. However, that may put JioCinema-owned content behind the paywall.
The JioHotstar Premium memberships cost the same as the Disney+ Hotstar subscription, starting at ₹149 for three months and going all the way up to ₹1,499 for the annual ad-free plan.
