From March 31, Disney Hotstar will stop raising HBO shows, which means some of the monstrously popular titles, from Game of Thrones to The White Lotus and Last of Us, won’t be available to subscribers in India. The banderole made the advertisement on Twitter. Coming as it does on top of the platform no longer being suitable to stream IPL matches, the right having gone to Jio Cinemas, it’s a double whammy for its Indian druggies, especially since the HBO Max launch in India does not feel to have progressed much. HBO Max, apropos, is the most precious streaming service in the US.
Media judges suggest that this could be a fallout of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s plans to cut $5.5 billion in costs, including about$ 3 billion in non-sports related content. The service was rebranded as Disney Hotstar in April 2020 after Disney’s $71.3 billion global accession of 21st Century Fox, which possessed Star India. It’s important to note that Disney also renewed the rights for Formula One. preliminarily, F1 races were vented on Star Sports television channels and on the Disney Hotstar platform. Rather, Motor Sport Formula 1’s OTT videotape platform F1 television entered the Indian request last month, ahead of 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship.
In the October-December quarter earnings call, Disney announced he plans to cut $ 5 Bn cost which include plans to cut $ 3 Bn from its budget for pictures and television shows. CEO Iger said it’s time for another metamorphosis, “one that rationalises the company’s enviable streaming business and puts it on a path to sustain growth and profitability, while also reducing charges to ameliorate perimeters and returns and better situating us to ride unborn dislocation, increased competition and global profitable challenges”. Last time, Disney also lost the digital streaming rights of the marquee justice event Indian Premier League (IPL) to Viacom18, ending its five-year monopoly of IPL rights. Viacom18 bagged the digital rights of the IPL for the 2023-27 period.