Hotstar has partnered with Disney India to bring its slate of titles onto its video streaming platform, the company announced on Monday. That gives it access to a wide range of selection, including access to films made under four different studios – Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Disney itself – plus television content thanks to Disney’s ownership of ABC Studios. All of the Disney-owned content will be available under the Hotstar Premium label, which is available to subscribers for Rs. 199 a month.
“Over the last six months, we have established Premium as an exciting new service for an Indian audience that is interested in international stories,” Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan said in a statement. “The deal with Disney is in line with our strategy of bringing the best of new shows and movies from around the world to our Premium subscribers.”
Disney India Studios VP Amrita Pandey echoed that message, and added: “This deal is important for us as it enables us to offer our movies across Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar brands and our ABC Studios' TV shows to our audience wherever they are. Hotstar Premium is an ideal home for our content and it gives subscribers across the country, the chance to revisit their loved stories.”
A selection of Disney-owned films and TV shows are already available on Hotstar, with the likes of the seventh chapter of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from Lucasfilm, Jon Favreau’s live action The Jungle Book, and the animated 1994 classic The Lion King from Disney, Oscar-winning Toy Story 3, and Ratatouille from Pixar, and on the TV front – Castle, and Desperate Housewives by ABC.
It’s not as complete as people would like. There are only six films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe are currently available, the latest of those – Iron Man 3 – released all the way back in 2013. But with a multi-year deal in place, that will hopefully get better with time.
It also sends a strong message to the other players in the Indian market – Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video – the former of which holds exclusive rights to Disney films in the US.
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