Leading Indian streaming service Disney Plus Hotstar might be on the verge of losing its most popular content in India – HBO content. The expiry of HBO content on Disney Plus Hotstar was always on the anvil, given the impending launch of HBO Max in India. Ever since news of Warner Bros. launching HBO Max became known, there’s been speculation on HBO content moving out from Disney Plus Hotstar. The question regarding HBO moving out of Disney Plus Hotstar was always ‘when’ and never ‘if’.
Now, as per sources in the know, Warner Bros. wants to move its prestigious HBO content out of Disney Plus Hotstar, and onto its own HBO Max, which might launch in India as part of Prime Video Channels. It is to be noted that HBO Max returned to Prime Video Channels in December 2022 in the USA, after leaving in 2021. Also crucial is the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery recently announced that they’ve scrapped the plans to merge HBO Max and Discovery Plus into a combined streaming platform. Since HBO Max will now continue to operate as a stand-alone streamer, it makes sense to launch it in India as part of Prime Video Channels.
If HBO Max is to launch in India as part of the Prime Video Channels infrastructure, then it further makes sense to move the very popular HBO content out of Disney Plus Hotstar, and onto the newly launched HBO MAX. Though Prime Video offers several foreign streaming platforms in India through its Prime Video Channels, they haven’t found too many takers in India.
But with HBO MAX, it should be different. Especially if it has all the popular HBO titles out of Disney Plus Hotstar, and onto its own platform. Game Of Thrones, Succession, House Of The Dragon, The Sopranos, Barry, Euphoria, The West Wing, The Wire, among others, are some of the most popular HBO shows currently available to stream on Disney Plus Hotstar.
HBO content moving out of Disney Plus Hotstar will prove to be a massive double whammy for the platform, which is already reeling from a considerable loss of subscribers owing to its failure in retaining the streaming rights for the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament. As per Disney’s recently declared quarterly report, Disney Plus Hotstar’s subscription base dropped by 6% to 57.5 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2022.
Stay tuned to Binged.com for further updates on HBO content moving out of Disney Plus Hotstar.
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