Star India officially launched Hotstar on 11 February 2015 after fifteen months of development, coinciding with the 2015 Cricket World Cup and upcoming 2015 Indian Premier League (for which Star had acquired the streaming rights). History First Hotstar logo from 2015 until 2020. version of Hotstar in November 2021, in favour of adding its content to the domestic Hulu and ESPN+ services instead. In 2021, Disney announced that it would discontinue the U.S. In Canada, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, Hotstar operates as a streaming service targeting overseas Indians, focusing on Star India's domestic entertainment and sports content Disney+ operates as a standalone service in these markets. Disney+ Hotstar is also expected to launch in the Philippines and Vietnam in 2022. Outside of India, the Disney+ Hotstar service also operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, which similarly combines entertainment content licensed from local, third-party studios, with the larger Disney+ library.
The co-branded service added Disney+ original programming, and films and television series from its main content brands of Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and National Geographic alongside the domestic and third-party content already carried on the platform. Amid the significant growth of mobile broadband in India, Hotstar quickly became the dominant streaming service in the country.įollowing the acquisition of Star India's parent company 21st Century Fox by Disney in 2019, Hotstar was integrated with the company's new global streaming brand Disney+ as Disney+ Hotstar in April 2020. The brand was first introduced as Hotstar, for a streaming service carrying content from Star India's local networks, including films, television series, live sports, and original programming, as well as featuring content licensed from third-parties such as HBO and Showtime among others. Acquisition by Disney, integration with Disney+.Hotstar (also known as Disney+ Hotstar ) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Star India and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both divisions of The Walt Disney Company.
India, United Kingdom, Canada and parts of Southeast Asia (version may differ) (see full list of countries)ĭisney Media and Entertainment DistributionĤ5.9 million (paid as of 1 January 2022) 300 million active users (May 2020)