Disney+ arrives in India through Hotstar

New Delhi : The Disney+ streaming service that went live last November has been launched in India through Hotstar.

It was earlier scheduled to launch in India on March 29 in conjunction with the beginning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament. But with IPL getting suspended amid the ongoing 21-day nation-wide lockdown to curb the COVID-19 spread, the launch of Disney+ got delayed.

However, with India watching things online at the ease of home during lockdown, this also happens to be an apt time for the launch of Disney+.

The new video streaming service will be in direct competition with international players Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the country.

Disney+ is called Disney+Hotstar in India and has two subscription plans - Disney+Hostar VIP priced at INR399 ($5/€4.8) a year and Disney+Hotstar Premium that costs INR299 ($4/€3.6) per month or INR1,499 ($20/€18) if you pay yearly.

Before the launch of Disney+, the VIP plan was priced at INR365 ($4.8/€4.4) whereas the yearly Premium plan was priced at INR999 ($13/€12).

The Existing Hotstar subscribers have been granted free Disney+ services till their membership validity. 

The Hotstar app was updated to tease Disney+ and with the service now live, it has a dedicated Disney+ section, which includes Disney Originals like The Mandalorian as well as movies and TV shows from Disney, Marvel and National Geographic.

There are movies for kids as well like The JungleBook, Cars 3, and Toy Story to name a few.