News

JioCinema, Disney+ Hotstar Merge in India to Launch JioHotstar Streaming Service

The merger of Reliance Industries Limited and The Walt Disney Company's media assets combined Reliance's JioCinema streaming service with Disney+ Hotstar, and launched the new JioHotstar streaming service on Friday. The combined platform will have 300,000 hours of content and claims a user base exceeding 500 million.

As of press time, both the services are still available on separate applications. While the Disney+ Hotstar application has auto-updated, displaying the new logo and a combined content library, the original JioCinema application is available with its original content library and a prompt that users can click on to be redirected to the new application. Subscribers of either one of the services will be able to access JioHotstar until their subscription expires.

Several anime titles that were previously on JioCinema are still available on the new app including seasons of Demon Slayer, Spy×Family, Tokyo Revengers, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, amongst others. JioCinema launched an Anime Hub content slate for premium subscribers in May 2024.

Disney+ Hotstar's limited selection of anime is available on the new application including the Overlord films, Tatami Time Machine Blues, and Aoashi. Following the initial announcement of the merger, the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service removed several anime titles including Dr. Stone, Heavenly Delusion, Summer Time Rendering, Black Clover, and more in January.

The JioHotstar company will operate under three separate leaderships: CEO of digital Kiran Mani, CEO of broadcast entertainment Kevin Vaz, and CEO of sports Sanjōg Gupta.

The Walt Disney Company's Disney+ Hotstar streaming service for India appointed Sajith Sivanandan as executive vice president and head of the company in October 2022. Disney+ Hotstar crossed 50 million paid subscribers in India in May 2022.

21st Century Fox launched the Hotstar streaming service in February 2015. Disney India combined the service with its Disney+ streaming service in February 2020. The company had previously appointed Sunil Rayan as the president and head in June 2020.

The service exclusively streamed the television anime adaptation of Masakazu Ishiguro's Heavenly Delusion (Tengoku Daimakyo) manga in India. It simulcasted the the television anime of Tomihiko Morimi's Tatami Time Machine Blues (Yojō-Han Time Machine Blues) novel in India and had titles such as Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fallin its anime catalog.

Source: Press release, Variety (Naman Ramachandan)