The market for OTT platforms has been rapidly increasing over the last few years, with new entrants coming in. Not just that, each platform has a plethora of shows and movies which means that as consumers we are spoilt for choice.
Recently there has been a lot of buzz about Disney’s streaming platform Disney Plus arriving in India, and reportedly to be available on Hotstar. But all the news has been largely speculative. Disney Plus has just launched in the US, with a subscription rate of $6.99 per month.
When asked about the launch date, the Hotstar team recently tweeted this:
There are also reports that the platform might launch sometime in the second half of 2020, post the IPL season.
What’s it going to be priced like?
There has been no information on what the price range for Disney Plus in India is going to be like, but the subscription rate for Hotstar is Rs 999 for a year, and Rs 299 for a month. According to reports, there might be an increase in these prices when Disney Plus is added to the existing Hotstar catalog. But that is a choice consumers can make, whether to opt for Disney Plus or not.
A report on BGR has said that the platform could cost consumers about Rs 590 per month, or you could take the yearly subscription for Rs 5900. But again, this is speculative until the actual figures are officially announced.
What is the content going to be like?
Disney Plus will be giving people access to a whopping 500 films and 7500 television episodes from the Disney library. It will also be having its own originals that are exclusive to the platform. They recently released the trailer for one of their originals which is The Mandalorian, which is a continuation of the Star Wars series.
The ace up their sleeves is also the fact that they have a bunch of Marvel movies that people can watch. This includes the Avengers line up of Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger and Ant-Man.
While Hotstar in India does have some of these movies already, the entire lineup will be available to people once Disney Plus comes to India.
There will also be a Disney Kids section which will include television shows like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and a bunch of Pixar films like Wall-E, Up, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and Brave. They will also be giving access to over 400 hours of footage from National Geographic.
How does one access Disney Plus?
The platform like mentioned earlier will be available on Hotstar for us in India when it is launched, but right now for countries abroad it can also be accessed on the Disney Plus website. Though some consumers complained of glitches on it.
The app will be available on iOS, and Apple TV, Android, Google Chromecast, Android TV devices. Recently Amazon also announced that Disney Plus would be on their Fire Stick as well, but that depends on the region.
Right now Disney Plus has launched only in the US, Canada and Netherlands.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)