Disney+ Hotstar (known as JioHotstar in India after merging with JioCinema) is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star.

Outside India, in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, Disney+ Hotstar service is fully owned by Disney, where it similarly combines entertainment content licensed from local, third-party studios, with the larger Disney+ library.

The ad-supported service initially featured a library of over 35,000 hours of content in seven regional languages, as well as live streaming coverage of sports such as football and kabaddi, and cricket on a delay.

Star CEO Sanjay Gupta felt that there "[weren't] many platforms available to Indian consumers offering high-quality, curated content besides, say, YouTube", and explained that the service would appeal most prominently to the growing young adult demographic, and feature "very targeted" advertising.

The service launched alongside a new deal to carry HBO content uncut on the platform, with its introduction coinciding with the season 6 premiere of Game of Thrones.

[16][17] During a February 2020 earnings call, Iger announced that its recently launched international streaming brand Disney+ and its original programming would be integrated into Hotstar as part of a re-launch on 29 March 2020.

Iger stated that the service's launch—originally scheduled to coincide with the opening of the 2020 Indian Premier League—would take advantage of Hotstar's existing infrastructure and customer base.

[19][20] The service officially launched with a "virtual red carpet premiere" of The Lion King and Disney+ series The Mandalorian, featuring actors Rana Daggubati, Katrina Kaif, Shraddha Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, and Tiger Shroff participating in live interactions.

In December 2024, Reliance Industries acquired the domain jiohotstar.com,[36] giving rise to speculations that Disney+ Hotstar and Jio Cinema would officially merge into a single platform.

In March 2019, the service launched a new premium original content brand, Hotstar Specials, with the first production being Roar of the Lion—a docudrama miniseries chronicling the Chennai Super Kings in the 2018 Indian Premier League.

Hotstar stated that these series would be at least six episodes in length, be available in seven regional languages (Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu)[47] and focus on providing "big-scale, high-quality drama".

[54][55] On 4 September 2017, Star Sports acquired the media rights to the Indian Premier League, with Hotstar acting as the international digital rightsholder.

Hotstar launched an international subscription service in Canada and the United States, aimed towards providing its domestic Indian content and sports.

[58] On 4 January 2019, Star discontinued its international linear pay television channels in the United States (such as StarPlus), pivoting its focus in the region to Hotstar.

[59] On 31 August 2021, Disney announced that it would, in turn, discontinue Hotstar in the United States, in favour of hosting its sports and entertainment content on ESPN+ and Hulu respectively beginning 1 September.

[65] The Thai version reached agreements with studios and broadcasters such as GDH, GMM 25, Kantana Group, One 31, and Sahamongkolfilm, and has licensed content from other East Asian regions such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

[69][70] In January 2022, Disney+ Hotstar announced that it had acquired rights to the WWE Network in Indonesia, with its content and live events becoming available on the platform at no additional charge, but ended in 2024.

[76][77] In February 2020, Hotstar refused to carry an episode that contained segments critical of prime minister Narendra Modi, which had opined that his policy of Hindu nationalism was a growing threat to democracy in India.

[76][77] The service was highly criticised and ridiculed upon its launch in Thailand for the censorship and editing of Disney content, where violent and/or suggestive scenes were cut out or blurred, with a majority of titles being cropped to fit 16:9 widescreen televisions and/or also sped up to 25 frames per second (PAL).

[81] On 14 July 2021, during a live podcast hosted by Thai news reporter Jomquan Laopetch, Disney Southeast Asia and Thailand general manager, direct-to-consumer Winradit Kolasastraseni stated that he was aware of the issues and admitted they were the QC team's fault; the service has been replacing censored/edited video files with their original cuts since then.