In a bolt from the blue this morning, Indian viewers were treated to a sweet delight, one they least expected this early in March. Disney+, the keenly anticipated streaming platform from The Walt Disney Company, started streaming its marquee content on the Hotstar platform.
As per the dates announced in February, Disney+ was scheduled to arrive in India on 29th March, on Hotstar’s streaming platform. Well, suffice to say that Disney+ has shocked Indian viewers and existing OTT players, with its sudden entry that is much ahead of schedule.
An app update was also rolled out a couple of days ago, to make the Hotstar app compatible with the Disney+ platform. Once a Hotstar subscriber updates the app, the new Disney+ Hotstar logo flashes on screen, along with the new royal blue colours of Disney+. Not only that, a huge number of Disney+ titles are now available for streaming on Hotstar Premium, with some also available on Hotstar VIP.
One doesn’t need to pay anything over the existing Hotstar Premium subscription plans to access the best Disney+ shows available. The Mandalorian Season 1, High School Musical : The Musical : The Series Season 1, Diary of a Future Presidentj: Season 1, Marvel’s Hero Project: Season 1; and Disney+ Original films such as Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, Noelle and Togo are some of the content available for streaming on Hotstar Premium.
At present, Disney+ Hotstar is available at exactly the same rates as the earlier Hotstar Premium rates, that is, Rs 299 for one month, and Rs 999 for the year. Disney+ Hotstar VIP is also still available at the old rate of Rs 369 per year.
It remains to be seen though, for how long these rates and subscription plans will persist. Disney+‘s outgoing CEO Bob Iger had hinted in February, before relinquishing the post to new CEO Bob Chapek, that subscription rates will rise once Disney is fully entrenched on Hotstar. Since Disney already owns Hotstar courtesy its buyout of Fox last year, it makes sense to integrate both platforms into one single entity. That way, Disney+ also gets to leverage Hotstar’s humongous subscriber base of 300 million plus subscribers.
More titles will be added on Friday, in addition to the ones already released on Disney+ Hotstar.
Watch this space at Binged.com for further information on Disney+ Hotstar.
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