Update, March 11, 2020 (4AM ET): Disney CEO Bob Iger previously confirmed that Disney Plus would launch in India on March 29 via Hotstar. It looks like the company has jumped the gun and quietly flipped the switch.
We’ve noticed that the Hotstar app has been renamed to Disney Plus Hotstar. The new name isn’t the only change, as we’ve also got plenty of content from Marvel, Pixar, and Disney’s animated catalog. And yes, The Mandalorian is also available on the app.
Disney isn’t charging extra if you’re already on Hotstar’s Premium plan (we’re not sure about new subscribers though), and you can download the content for offline playback too.
Iger earlier stated that there would be a premium Disney Plus tier in India that includes the entire library of programming, so this looks like the offering in question. But the CEO also said there would be a basic tier focused on the legacy Disney library and not including original content. I guess we’ll need to wait for this option.
Have you received Disney Plus content in Hotstar? Let us know in the comments section!
Original article, November 14, 2019 (5:29 PM ET): Disney Plus has seen a pretty huge response in its first two days of launch. The platform already has 10 million subscribers and counting, and it’s only available in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands. Well, there’s some good news for our Indian readers, as we now have a tentative timeline for the launch of Disney’s streaming service in the country.
TechCrunch reports that Disney plans to bring Disney Plus to India and some South Asian countries by second half of 2020. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the publication says that Disney Plus content will be a part of Hotstar in India.