Disney+ Hotstar, one of the popular streaming services in India, could be bringing back the Live TV feature soon on its platform. For those who don’t know, it removed Live TV channels from its platform in July 2021 after IT Rules 2021 mandate for OTT platforms came into effect.
The recent development has been spotted by a Reddit user named One-Cost-4363. MySmartPrice verified the news as well and we can now confirm that Live TV channels are indeed coming back on Disney+ Hotstar. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
Disney+ Hotstar to Bring Back These Star Live TV Channels Soon
Disney+ Hotstar is gearing up to bring back live TV channels soon on its platform. The streaming service will bring multiple Star Sports and entertainment channels back. MySmartPrice verified the same and confirmed that 15 channels are coming back on its app.
Do note that Disney+ Hostar may add more channels in the upcoming time. Here’s the full list of Live TV channels returning to Disney+ Hotstar.
- Star Plus
- Star Bharat
- Star Utsav
- Star Pravah
- Star Gold
- Star Sports Hindi 1
- Star Sports 1
- Jalsha Movies
- Star Jalsha
- Star Maa
- Star Maa Movies
- Maa Gold
- Star Vijay
- Star Suvarna Plus
- Star Suvarna
At the time of writing this, none of the channels were found working but we expect them to start streaming soon.
Disney+ Hotstar removed the live TV channels including news in July 2021 as an effect of the IT Rules 2021 mandate for OTT platforms issued by the Indian Government to censor streaming platforms. Apart from Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, Zee5, Voot, and Airtel Xstream apps removed all the live channels from their platforms as well.
Disney+ Hotstar Recent Performance
Disney+ Hotstar is going through major changes for a couple of weeks. In March this year, it announced that HBO and Warner Bros content are leaving its platform which was later acquired by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance-owned JioCinema.
The platform also lost the bid to stream the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the biggest hits on its platform to Viacom 18. Moreover, JioCinema streamed the entire IPL 2023 season for free which is said to be garnered over 1700 crore views on the platform. JioCinema also broke Disney+ Hotstar’s concurrent viewership record of 25.3 million with a new 31 crore concurrent viewership.
In the first quarter of 2023, it lost over 4.6 million subscribers. Since the October of last year, the platform has witnessed a major drop of 8.4 million subscribers.
With the upcoming World Test Championship Final between India and Australia, the numbers are expected to increase.
So, bringing back the live TV feature during this time period could be a good move for Hotstar to retain and add more subscribers.
