JioHotstar, the streaming service owned by Reliance Industries, will replace Hotstar in the U.K., Canada and Singapore as it begins an international rollout outside India.
The service will launch with more than 160,000 hours of entertainment content but will not carry live sports at launch, including the Indian Premier League, the Women’s Premier League and Indian national cricket matches. JioHotstar told Lakbima News that it is not offering sports at launch because existing rights deals remain in place; the company did not rule out adding sports later.
The omission of sports contrasts with JioHotstar’s offering in India, where Reliance says the platform has more than 500 million monthly active users and where live sport drives large audiences. In India the service streams top cricket events as well as the English Premier League, tennis tournaments such as Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and domestic leagues for sports including kabaddi and hockey, the company said.
JioHotstar confirmed to Lakbima News that starting September 2 Hotstar will cease operations in the U.K., Canada and Singapore and JioHotstar will take its place. Hotstar users in those markets will no longer be able to access the service through the Hotstar app, but their existing login credentials will work on JioHotstar. The company said the JioHotstar app will be available on the App Store and Google Play on mobile devices and on connected TVs.
Hotstar has operated internationally for years, including in the U.K. and Canada, and previously ran a stand-alone service in the U.S. before it closed in 2021. JioHotstar is not launching in the U.S. as part of this initial international push. The company told Lakbima News it plans to enter additional overseas markets over time.
At launch, JioHotstar will carry Indian films, television originals and reality shows such as “Bigg Boss,” along with live TV channels under the Star banner, including Star Plus, Colors, Star Vijay, Asianet, Star Jalsha and Star Pravah. The company said its catalogue is available in 12 languages, including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi, with dubs and subtitles for some titles.
Reliance and Disney announced a joint venture in 2024 that combined Hotstar and JioCinema into JioHotstar in India, a transaction disclosed as an $8.5 billion deal. At the time, the two services together accounted for about 85 percent of the streaming audience in India, according to statements filed by the companies.
Data from India’s Ministry of External Affairs indicates a potential audience of more than 4 million people across the three markets where JioHotstar is launching. Some content is likely to appeal beyond first-generation migrants to the wider South Asian diaspora.
Amit Malhotra, head of international business at JioHotstar, told Lakbima News that South Asian audiences maintain strong ties to Indian entertainment across languages and generations, and that global viewers are showing growing interest in stories from other cultures. He said the company sees an opportunity to reach a broader global audience rather than simply exporting a product unchanged.
JioHotstar’s prices for the three markets mirror Hotstar’s current rates. In the U.K. it will charge £19.99 quarterly and £69.99 annually. In Canada the quarterly price is CA$19.99 with an annual fee of CA$49.99. In Singapore the quarterly price is SG$29.98 and the annual fee SG$69.98. At launch the service will offer only entertainment content; customers who want live sports may need to subscribe to a separate service.
In India, JioHotstar’s plans start at ₹79 a month for a single mobile device and go up to ₹2,199 a year for the top-tier plan, the company said.
