HBO content moves from Disney+ Hotstar in India

EXCLUSIVE: HBO content including tentpoles like home of the dragon And successoris about to move from Indian platform Disney+ Hotstar, where it has been streaming since 2016, according to local industry sources.

The move appears to be in line with Disney CEO Bob Iger’s announcement that it will restructure the company and cut costs. While HBO content in particular game of thronesDisney+ helped Hotstar build its subscriber base when it first launched a paid tier, but English-language content is still considered a niche market in India.

At the same time, the Disney platform is under pressure to reverse the decline in subscriptions with more mass-market content. Although it remains India’s largest streamer, Disney+ Hotstar subscriptions fell 6% to 57.5 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2022. The decline is partly due to the loss of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament that was held last year was won by Viacom18. in a $2.6 billion deal.

Indian industry analysts speculate that Prime Video will be a natural fit for HBO content – either as part of the SVOD service or with the launch of HBO Max as part of Prime Video Channels offerings in India.

Channels currently available on Prime Video in India include HBO Max sister channel Discovery+, AMC+, Lionsgate Play, Mubi and Indian streaming services ErosNow and Hoichoi.

Additionally, Prime Video has signed a deal with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), announced in July 2022, to stream a series of HBO Max Originals in India. HBO shows already streaming on Prime Video India include The stewardess, And just like that, gossip girl and science fiction drama Raised by wolves.

Both Warner Bros. Discovery and Prime Video declined comment when contacted by Deadline.

By August last year, WBD was planning to launch HBO Max as a standalone service in India and had started building a local team. However, those plans were scrapped as part of a broader restructuring and cost-cutting effort following the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. Saugata Mukherjee, head of content at SonyLiv, who moved to HBO to lead local language content, has since returned to SonyLiv.

WDB has launched HBO Max in many Latin American and European territories, but plans for Asia have not yet been confirmed. HBO content is currently streamed in various Southeast Asian territories via WBD’s OTT service HBO Go, while licensing agreements are in place in Korea and Japan.

The first licensing deal between HBO (then part of Time Warner) and major Indian broadcaster Star India (then owned by Fox) was signed in late 2015, when Star India’s Hotstar streaming platform was still largely an ad-supported service and a running catch-up TV. Hotstar began producing originals in 2019, starting with an adaptation of the BBC show criminal lawand was renamed Disney+ Hotstar in August 2020 following Disney’s acquisition of Fox.

Disney+ Hotstars adaptation of Luther, Rudra: The Edge of Darknesswas the most popular Hindi show in India last year, with more than 35 million viewers, according to Ormax Media.