OTT platforms Disney Plus Hotstar and Jio Cinema have officially merged as JioHotstar starting February 14, 2025 in India. The merger comes as an extension of a joint venture between Reliance Industries, and Walt Disney Company. So what does this change for existing Disney Plus Hotstar and Jio Cinema subscribers? A quick view below:

For Subscribers:

Existing Disney+Hotstar subscribers will not see any major changes besides the application name and logo. JioHotstar will continue Disney+Hotstar's current plans which are:

• Mobile - Rs. 149/month, Rs. 499/year
• Super (Access on 2 devices) - Rs. 299/3 months, Rs. 899/ year
• Premium (Ads free 4K access on 4 devices) - Rs. 499/3 months, Rs. 1499/ year

Jio Cinema users on the other hand are redirected to the JioHotstar application for any and all content. Existing Jio Cinema premium subscribers will have access to JioHotstar premium for the remaining duration of their plans.

Content:

JioHotstar aggregates not just Disney Plus Hotstar and Jio Cinema content, but also NBC Universal Peacock, Warner Bros, Discovery, HBO, and Paramount, making it the only streaming platform in India to offer the biggest range of movies, series, and sports events.  

Additionally, a new initiative called Sparks aims to highlight India’s digital creators.

For South Cinema:

South Indian content on JioHotstar has been planned to be expanded from the existing 500 hours to 1,100 hours in the near future. JioHotstar plans to platform Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada content and invest in original productions.