Disney+ has confirmed its plan to launch a video streaming service in India on March 29, according to a report. The service will be made available via Hotstar that Disney acquired from Fox.
The announcement was made by Disney boss Bob Iger on a conference call following the company's financial results presentation, Variety reported.
"We will be rebranding our existing Hotstar VIP and Premium subscription tiers to Disney Plus Hotstar. We see this as a great opportunity to use the proven platform of Hotstar to launch the new Disney Plus service in one of the most populous countries and fastest-growing economies in the world," Iger said.
"We think it's an opportune moment, we take advantage of the presence of Star in the market and the millions of subscribers that they also have, we take advantage of the sports tie-in, and we use the interface and the technology that includes the billing that already exists to launch a service, we believe, under very, very optimal circumstances."
Hotstar, at its peak, reported more than 100 million daily active users and 300 million monthly active users last year.
The service, which currently offers its premium offering for about $14 a year, also features shows and movies from HBO, ABC, and Showtime. It also offers an ad-supported free tier, which as of two years ago, included about 80% of the catalog, Techcrunch reported.
The service to be launched in March 24, is already launched in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria.
It originally launched last November in the US, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand.
The company hopes to take on the competition from existing players in the country's streaming market, particularly Netflix and Amazon, who have already established a wide variety of Indian content on their platforms.
The streaming service also faces competition with domestic players such as ALTBalaji, Zee5, Eros Now, Sony Liv and Voot.
During the earnings call, Iger also announced Disney Plus has so far amassed 28.6 million paid subscribers after its debut in the US on November 12, 2019.
