With the merger of Reliance-owned Viacom18 and Star India complete, JioHotstar has gone live in India, bringing together JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar into a unified sports and entertainment content platform.
Viacom18 operates several Paramount channels in India, including Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Sonic, Nick Jr., and Nickelodeon HD+.
JioStar’s combined platform features some 300,000 hours and says it has 500 million users. It is available for free, with subscription tiers. The platform is available at two pricepoints—a quarterly rate of just Rs. 149 (US$1.71) for an ad-based tier, and a monthly membership of Rs. 299 (US$3.45) that’s ad-free. JioHotstar is currently operating on what was previously the Disney+ Hotstar app. The plan is to phase out the JioCinema app once its memberships have expired, according to TechCrunch. Existing customers of both JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar will be transitioned to JioHotstar.
Kiran Mani, CEO of digital at JioStar, noted: “At the core of JioHotstar is a powerful vision—to make premium entertainment truly accessible to all Indians. Our promise of ‘Infinite Possibilities’ ensures that entertainment is no longer a privilege but a shared experience for all. By integrating AI-driven recommendations and offering streaming in over 19 languages, we are personalizing content like never before.”
“JioHotstar is setting a new benchmark for digital-first entertainment,” added Kevin Vaz, CEO of entertainment at JioStar. “The platform is immersive, inclusive and audience-centric. While we have endless entertainment to offer, we are committed to continually innovate and elevate storytelling, ensuring that every Indian, regardless of language, discovers content they love.”
In addition to housing most of Disney’s catalogue (including top kids franchises like Bluey, Inside Out and Frozen), the platform has also acquired international titles from Paramount Global, Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO and NBCUniversal.
On the kids front specifically, JioHotstar offers a mix of international franchises (such as Kung Fu Panda, Home Alone and Doraemon) and local programming (including Disney titles like tween sitcom Best of Luck Nikki and CG-animated series The Legend of Hanuman).
Sports is a key part of the offering, with tournaments like ICC events, IPL and WPL, plus Premier League and Wimbledon. Enhanced features include ultra-HD 4K streaming, AI-powered insights, real-time stats overlays and multi-angle viewing. Sanjog Gupta, CEO for sports at JioStar, said, “Sports in India is more than just a game—it’s a shared experience that unites millions. JioHotstar is revolutionizing how fans experience live sports, combining the best of technology, access, storytelling and innovation with the fan at the heart of everything. Whether it’s the pride in India Cricket, the electric atmospherics of Premier League, passion for India’s Indigenous sports or exposure for grassroot-level competitions, we will deliver a range of experiences, catering to both ‘lean in’ and ‘lean back’ behaviors across a billion screens. We are now taking this philosophy beyond sports by bringing culture-defining live experiences to our audiences. The overwhelming response to Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres live-stream has set us off on this exciting new journey towards infinite possibilities.”
More from Variety:
India’s JioStar Launches Unified Streaming Platform JioHotstar, Eyes Billion-Screen Reach
In a landmark move that reshapes India‘s streaming landscape, JioStar has unveiled JioHotstar, merging JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. The unified platform, launching Feb. 14, boasts nearly 300,000 hours of content and claims a user base exceeding 500 million.
The move follows the events of 2024 when the Indian entertainment landscape witnessed a seismic shift with Reliance Industries and Disney completing their long-awaited media merger, giving birth to JioStar – a media powerhouse valued at $8.5 billion. The merger combined Disney’s Star India with Reliance’s Viacom18 and their respective platforms.
With the company structured under three distinct leaderships – Kiran Mani (CEO – Digital), Kevin Vaz (CEO – Broadcast Entertainment), and Sanjog Gupta (CEO – Sports) – JioStar operates with a shared vision of universalizing entertainment access. Mani, a seasoned digital strategist who previously led Google’s Android and Play Ecosystems in Asia-Pacific and Japan, is spearheading the company’s digital operations. Vaz, a veteran entertainment executive instrumental in launching over 50 channels at Disney Star, oversees JioStar’s extensive television and regional content business. Gupta, with two decades in sports broadcasting, drives JioStar’s sports strategy, having played a crucial role in expanding multi-language sports coverage and interactive experiences.
While the merger faced scrutiny from India’s antitrust watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the co-CEOs say those concerns have been addressed. “The CCI order was quite clear in its definition of what it sees as being anti-competitive and in this case, being pro-consumer,” says Gupta. “The approach that we’ve taken is to put the consumer first and act first in the interest of the consumer, be it by way of the service that we are offering or by way of the access we are giving each and every consumer to the large library of content.” Mani adds that the government’s due diligence process actually demonstrated that the merger ‘increases access but not reduce competition’ given that content delivery now spans multiple players including YouTube, Facebook, traditional television channels, and streaming platforms.
With three co-CEOs at the helm, JioStar is an anomaly in the media world. How do they navigate decision-making? “I think the real question you’re asking is: what happens when three of us disagree on something?” Mani quips. “India is a unique market with over a billion screens to serve. As a company, it’s actually a conglomeration of many, many businesses and many, many media and entertainment opportunities.” Mani adds that a one-person leadership becomes hierarchical and doesn’t tap into the core expertise that the respective CEOs have.
Vaz, who helms JioStar’s massive TV and regional content business, adds, “It’s a big opportunity for us in today’s date that we are saying, instead of looking at linear TV or looking at digital separate. How would you go to an advertiser and offer him solutions, which are screen agnostic, but more to solve for his brand and his reach vis a vis talking to only one part of the business.”
Gupta, whose domain includes IPL and international sports rights, highlights the collaborative approach. “If you think about the multiple business units, or the businesses that the three of us manage, they’re at very different stages of their journey in terms of evolution, they also deal with unique realities, both externally and internally, which require a deep level of expertise to be managed. So while optically, it’s you’re looking at three of us sitting here. It’s actually three highly specialized organizations that are pulling in the same direction.“
Gupta provides a recent example, the live stream of the Coldplay concert from the Narendra Modi Stadium, which he describes as a “watershed moment” for India. “Kiran and I worked together to develop what we believed was the ideal experience for consumers of that concert on the platform, and Kevin and I work together very closely to unlock the monetization potential of that that concert, because Kevin’s world has an expertise in monetizing entertainment linked eyeballs, and Kiran’s world has the expertise in delivering experiences at scale which are deeply immersive and that’s where the three of us actually came together to deliver one live event itself, and that’s pretty much how we are engaging on a daily basis to run this aggregate of businesses or aggregate of experiences that we want to offer consumers.”
The new service will offer content across 19 languages and provide free access to shows, movies and live sports, with premium subscription plans starting at INR149 ($1.70).
“At the core of JioHotstar is a powerful vision – to make premium entertainment truly accessible to all Indians,” says Mani. “Our promise of Infinite Possibilities ensures that entertainment is no longer a privilege, but a shared experience for all.”
JioHotstar’s content strategy spans multiple demographics, with Vaz detailing an ambitious slate. The platform plans to release 2-3 original series monthly, alongside one marquee content drop per month and 1-2 movies per quarter.
“Between Disney and Nickelodeon, we’ve got one of the best offerings for kids,” says Vaz. The service features content from major Hollywood studios including Disney, NBCUniversal Peacock, Warner Bros. Discovery HBO, and Paramount – a combination rarely found on a single platform globally.
In a significant push for regional content, JioHotstar is planning 40 to 50 originals specifically for South Indian markets. “Till last year, we were doing approximately 500 hours of content in regional languages. We will take that up to 1,100 hours,” Vaz reveals, noting recent successes in cross-market content performance. The platform’s “always on” reality programming strategy includes major franchises like “Bigg Boss” across multiple languages.
The service boasts what executives claim is the world’s largest international content library, complemented by pre-TV access to programming from more than 100 television channels.
When asked about competition from global streaming giants like Netflix and Prime Video in India, Vaz emphasizes JioHotstar’s broader market reach. “In India, whether it’s Netflix or Amazon, [they are] still talking to a small niche in this country, of the top 10, 15 million,’ says Vaz. “What we have is reach. Across channels, we talk about 780 million to 900 million, kind of a reach. So for us, on today’s date between TV network and our OTT [streaming] platform, we are clearly one of the biggest, and for us, it’s trying to say how we can offer advertisers a solution for both brand building and also offering them targeting solutions through our app.”
The platform’s sports offering demonstrates the power of linguistic customization. “EPL [English Premiere League soccer] in India is watched by higher numbers in Malayalam and Bangla than it is in English,” Gupta notes, highlighting the platform’s success in regional market penetration. The service will continue hosting premium sports properties including ICC events, Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket, the Womens’ Premier League (WPL), Premier League soccer, and Wimbledon.
The platform’s success with language customization extends across various sports properties. Gupta reveals that major cricket events like IPL and the World Cup attract more viewers in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu individually than in English. “The biggest driver of new viewers last year for IPL was the Bhojpuri feed,” he notes. The platform goes beyond simple language dubbing, creating completely customized feeds for different regions. “Each of these feeds is actually fully customized for the regional cultural nuances,” Gupta explains. ‘So you could, for example, if you were watching a Chennai Super Kings versus Royal Challengers Bengaluru game, you could be watching in English the coverage about Ravindra Jadeja bowling to Ruturaj Gaikwad, but the Tamil feed could be focused on Dhoni and the fact that it could potentially last year with CSK. And the Kannada feed could be focusing on the fandom for Virat Kohli – and all these feeds would look and sound absolutely different from each other.”
The service is leveraging advanced technology for personalized viewing experiences. Mani reveals that during IPL streams, the platform manages 1,600 different consumer cohorts to optimize streaming quality based on factors like device type and data plans.
JioHotstar is also venturing into short-form content with “Sparks,” a new initiative launching Feb. 14 that will feature India’s top digital creators. The platform plans to give creators more creative freedom and IP-based opportunities across multiple episodes and shows. “Some of the top 25 creators in India will come to the platform, and they will be building their own IPs across multiple episodes and shows,” Mani says.
Looking ahead, the service aims to explore commerce opportunities, focusing on driving retail traffic rather than traditional performance metrics. “We are looking at it from a very different performance metric,” says Mani, emphasizing value creation over conventional attribution models.
While India remains the primary focus, JioHotstar has global ambitions, particularly in serving the Indian diaspora. ‘We actually do believe that we now have the content base to cater to Indian diaspora anywhere in the world. So it’s very much a global ambition,” says Mani. “Easily, we could be present in 30-35 countries.”
The platform is also investing in AI and machine learning, particularly for content production and personalization, though Mani stresses a measured approach: “Do artificial intelligence only where your intelligence is already strong.”
With this consolidation, JioHotstar is positioning itself as a one-stop destination for Indian audiences, combining technological innovation with extensive content offerings across entertainment, sports, and original programming. The platform’s strategy of free access with premium upgrade options signals an aggressive push for market expansion in India’s competitive streaming landscape.
As Mani says, “We are ready to light up a billion screens now in India.”
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From TechCrunch:
Hotstar and JioCinema merge into JioHotstar as Reliance tightens grip on streaming in India
Manish Singh
Hotstar and JioCinema, two widely used video streaming apps in India, have merged into JioHotstar.
JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance-owned Viacom18 and Star India, said Friday it had integrated JioCinema’s vast library of content into a revamped version of Disney’s Hotstar platform.
The merged app, live as of early Friday local India time, will feature hundreds of thousands of hours of local content, more than 100 TV channels, as well as movies and TV shows from Disney, Warner Bros., HBO, NBCUniversal, and Paramount. JioHotstar aims to reach more than 500 million users in the country.
JioHotstar, which offers content in 19 languages and produces 30,000 hours of television programming annually, has subscription plans starting at ₹149 ($1.71) for three months (ad-supported) and ₹299 ($3.45) per month for an ad-free experience. The ad-free tier allows simultaneous viewing across four screens at once, whereas the cheapest ad-supported model limits that to one screen.
The consolidation follows Reliance’s $8.5 billion merger with Walt Disney’s Indian assets last year, which created a joint venture that controls about 85% of India’s streaming market and half of television viewership.
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| Data: SensorTower | Image Credit: UBS |
“Entertainment is no longer a privilege, but a shared experience for all,” said Kiran Mani, JioStar’s digital chief executive. The group said existing JioCinema subscribers would transition to JioHotstar once their current subscriptions expire.
The merger brings India’s most valuable sports rights under one platform, including cricket properties such as the Indian Premier League and International Cricket Council tournaments, alongside the soccer Premier League and FIFA World Cup.
JioCinema’s app will be phased out after existing customers’ subscriptions expire. JioCinema subscribers will be able to “seamlessly” transition and set up their JioHotstar subscriptions, the company told TechCrunch.
The consolidation reflects the difficulties foreign media groups have faced in India’s price-sensitive market. Netflix and Amazon Prime have also struggled to grow paid subscriptions despite heavy investment in local content.
Amazon, which last year acquired MX Player, is aggressively expanding the new video streaming app with more than 100 original shows and movies this year. MX Player was the third most popular video streaming app in December, right behind Hotstar and JioCinema, according to Sensor Tower.
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From Best Media Info:
End of an era: Comedy Central, Vh1, MTV Beats leave JioStar lineup
The three channels, launched at different times in India, catered to a niche audience with a substantial chunk of viewers common for all three channels
New Delhi: In the updated reference interconnect offer (RIO) released by JioStar following the 7th annual e-auction of DD Freedish, the media mogul announced the departure of nine channels, w.e.f., March 15, 2025.
Among the list are SD and HD versions of three notable entertainment brands—Comedy Central, Vh1, MTV Beats—that have kept the entertainment index of Indian people quite buoyant for many years. It is to be noted that before the merger of Viacom18 and Disney Star, all the aforementioned channels were owned by the former.
Although the broadcaster refused to comment on the development, industry sources told BestMediaInfo.com that the tough market conditions played a big role in bringing the curtains down on these three brands.
More than revenue, the audience these channels were catering to has been moving to OTT platforms, leaving no hope for their return to television in the future.
“Revenue is a byproduct of audience. When marketers are convinced that hardly any affluent viewer consumes English or music content on television, the broadcaster had no choice but to take this tough call,” said one of the sources BestMediaInfo.com spoke with.
“The affinity and appetite for the content of these channels have not vanished. That audience has moved to digital and that’s why the content will be served to them on JioHotstar,” the source said.
With this, JioStar is now left with Colors Infinity as the English general entertainment channel and Star Movies as the English movie channel.
When asked about the future of these brands, sources said that these brands will remain a part of the overall offering of the broadcast network, which has close to 120 channels.
“The only changes I can foresee in the Kids genre where JioStar has seven brands. I’m sure they will calibrate the line-up in a manner that it makes business sense,” the source added.
Three years after Disney Star started contemplating shutting down its English general entertainment channel Star World, the global media giant finally brought the curtain down on its English GECs recently in March 2023.
In May 2020, Sony Pictures Network India’s (SPNI) AXN, AXN HD and Network18’s FYI TV18 were taken off-air.
As Comedy Central and Vh1 go off air next month, Indian viewers will be left with two English entertainment brands – Colors Infinity and Zee Cafe.
Here’s a look at how the three channels – Comedy Central, Vh1 and MTV Beats – catered to a niche audience with a substantial chunk of viewers common for all three channels.
Comedy Central
Comedy Central arrived in India in January 2012, when Viacom18 (a JV between Network18 and Viacom International Media Networks at the time) catapulted it to the Indian masses. The channel became a quick favourite for people who preferred Western-style comedy content.
Comedy Central showcased a wide variety of well-regarded programs. Among these were numerous award-winning series, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as well as internationally popular shows like Saturday Night Live, The Office, Suits, 30 Rock, Seinfeld, The Wonder Years, and That 70s Show.
The channel's comedic offerings spanned a broad spectrum, from sitcoms and sketch comedy to British humour, stand-up performances, and short comedic bits.
The channel housed various popular sitcoms such as The Big Bang Theory, Friends, and How I Met Your Mother, in addition to sketch comedy programs like the Comedy Central Roast series, which often featured celebrity guests.
The content offered by the channel resonated with the younger demographics in the urban areas of the country. It provided the viewers with the right mix of light-hearted and escapist entertainment, becoming a hotspot for people looking for comedic relief.
Vh1
With a sprawling history of stimulating users with Western music, Vh1 entered the Indian market two decades ago in 2005. The channel was instrumental in shaping the pop culture landscape for the Indian audience and popularising Western music among adult English-speaking viewers in the country.
Originally, Vh1 India was launched as part of a joint venture between Viacom and Zee-Turner, before coming under the ambit of Viacom18. Apart from featuring chart-topping hits, the channel also conceptualised and executed events like Vh1 Supersonic, which was, at the time, touted as India's biggest music festival.
The channel hosted myriad programs including Top 20 Countdown and Vh1 Unplugged which became an instant favourite among English music listeners in India. The channel also had reality shows and documentaries in its slate of shows.
MTV Beats
MTV Beats entered the picture in the later months of 2016. In September of that year, Viacom18 announced the launch of MTV Beats, replacing Pepsi MTV Indies. MTV Beats was offered to Indian music lovers as a destination for 24x7 Hindi music.
Sudhanshu Vats, who was leading Viacom18 as Group CEO, called the channel a carrier of the MTV brand to a more mass audience. As a result, MTV Beats was the first foray for the brand into Hindi music and targeted the audience between the ages of 15 to 30 years, across urban and rural India.
MTV Beats, for its regular users, was a companion of sorts that fulfilled the music needs of the youth of urban and rural India throughout their daily routines. It had programs such as Love Beats with Darshan Raval, Flashback, Dil Beats Lockdown Love, House Party with DJ Chetas, among others that had the audience hooked to the channel.
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Originally published: February 15, 2025.
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