Content from HBO is reportedly going to be removed from Indian platform Disney+ Hotstar, where it has been streaming since 2016, according to Deadline.
What’s Happening:
- This move follows Disney CEO Bob Iger’s recent announcement of restructuring and cost-cutting at the company during last week’s Earnings Call.
- While HBO content, in particular Game of Thrones, helped Disney+ Hotstar build its subscriber base when it first launched a pay tier, English-language content is still considered a niche market in India.
- Even though it remains India’s biggest streamer, Disney+ Hotstar has seen a 6% drop in its subscriber base to 57.5 million during the last financial quarter.
- The decline is partly attributed to the loss of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, which instead went to Viacom18 last year in a $2.6BN deal.
- Indian industry analysts are speculating that HBO content may instead end up on Prime Video, which is launching an HBO Max channel on Prime Video Channels.
- The initial licensing deal between HBO (at the time part of Time Warner) and major Indian broadcaster Star India (at the time owned by Fox) was signed back in late 2015, when Star India’s streaming platform Hotstar was still an ad-supported service that mostly carried catch-up TV.
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