Reliance's JioHotstar takes its streaming empire global — without sports

JioHotstar, the streaming platform controlled by Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, is taking its brand outside India for the first time, replacing Hotstar in the U.K., Canada, and Singapore as part of a wider global push. The service will launch with more than 160,000 hours of entertainment content but without the live sports — including the Indian Premier League, Women’s Premier League, and Indian national cricket — that help drive its massive audience at home. JioStar said it isn’t offering sports at launch because of existing content deals, but didn’t rule out adding them later.

The absence of sports marks a sharp contrast with JioHotstar’s India offering, where the company says it has more than 500 million monthly active users and sports is a major draw, spanning cricket, the English Premier League, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and domestic leagues such as kabaddi and hockey. JioStar confirmed to TechCrunch that starting September 2, Hotstar will “cease to exist” in the U.K., Canada, and Singapore, with JioHotstar replacing it and existing Hotstar logins carrying over. Hotstar has operated internationally for years, including in the U.K. and Canada, and previously ran a stand-alone U.S. service before shutting it down in 2021 — JioHotstar is not launching in the U.S. as part of this rollout, though the company plans to add more overseas markets over time.

JioHotstar will launch with Indian films, TV originals, reality shows, and live Star-branded TV channels, with content available in 12 languages. Data from India’s Ministry of External Affairs suggests the three launch markets could have a target audience of more than 4 million people, with some content also expected to appeal to the broader South Asian diaspora.

“South Asian audiences have a deep connection with Indian entertainment across languages, generations, and households,” said Amit Malhotra, JioStar’s head of international business. “We see an opportunity to build for this broader, underserved global audience — not simply export an Indian streaming service to new markets.”

JioStar has priced JioHotstar at £19.99 (about $27) quarterly and £69.99 (around $95) annually in the U.K., with roughly comparable pricing in Canada and Singapore — similar to what Hotstar already charges. Because JioHotstar offers only entertainment content at launch, customers who want sports may have to pay for another service; by comparison, JioHotstar in India starts at ₹79 (about $0.80) a month.

In 2024, Reliance merged its media assets with Disney in an $8.5 billion joint venture that combined Hotstar and JioCinema into JioHotstar for Indian consumers; at the time, the two services accounted for 85% of India’s streaming audience.

Why it matters

Launching without sports and without the U.S. shows JioHotstar is testing whether its entertainment catalog alone can win South Asian diaspora audiences abroad, before committing to the costlier sports-rights battles that define streaming in its home market.