With the merger of 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.
JioStar’s combined platform features some 300,000 hours and says it has 500 million users. It is available for free, with subscription tiers starting at just Rs. 149 ($2) per quarter. 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.”
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.”
On the international content front, the platform has deals with Disney, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount.
