Hotstar
has quietly revised the pricing of its monthly Hotstar Premium subscription
plan. The plan now costs Rs. 299, up from Rs. 199 earlier. There is no change
in the pricing of the annual subscription plan price or the recently introduced
Hotstar VIP plan. The updated pricing is already live on the streaming
service's website. Meanwhile a report is suggesting that the content of
Disney+, the newly announced Disney streaming service, will be available via
Hotstar in India. After the closure of Disney's 21st Century Fox acquisition
last month, Disney became the official owner for Hotstar.
As per the subscription packages page on the
streaming service's website, the consumers will now have to shell out Rs. 299
for Hotstar Premium monthly subscription, whereas the annual plan remains
available at Rs. 999. Both Hotstar Premium subscription plans include access to
American TV shows, Hollywood movies, live sports, latest episodes of Indian TV
shows, Indian movie premieres, and Hotstar Specials. Consumers who don't want
to watch American shows or Hollywood movies can opt for the Hotstar VIP plan,
which was introduced last month, at just Rs. 365 annually. It remains unclear
if the revised monthly pricing for Hotstar Premium is applicable to just the
new subscribers or whether the existing subscribers will also have to pay the
new price beginning the next cycle in their subscription.
We have reached out to Hotstar for more
clarity on the revised pricing and will update this report when we hear back. Separately,
Mint is reporting that the content created for Disney+ streaming service, which
is set to go live in the US in November this year, will be available on Hotstar
in India, owned by Disney subsidiary Star India. The publication claims that
Disney is not planning to launch Disney+ as a standalone streaming platform in
the country. However, at the time of Disney+ announcement, Disney had stated
(PDF) that the streaming service will be rolling out in Asia Pacific throughout
2020 and 2021, without specifically mentioning India.
The
Mint report also notes that Hotstar plans to localise the Disney+ content for
the Indian market by dubbing, or by adding subtitles for various local
languages. It is believed that the inclusion of Disney+ content in Hotstar
portfolio will not impact the subscription prices of the service, which also
makes sense given Hotstar has just increased the price of its monthly Premium
subscription. There is no word on exactly when Hotstar
subscribers can expect to see Disney+ content.
