‘Sir Pakistan bhi kharid sakte hai’ – Fans react as Reliance set to acquire 54% of stake in Disney Plus Hotstar

Popular streaming platform Disney Plus Hot Star is set to collaborate with Jio Cinema. The news comes as reports claim Reliance to have 54 per cent of its control on the streaming platform. It can be a huge change in power in the streaming platforms in India, given how giant the platform has been in the last few years in the country. 

Disney Plus Hot Star is well known for streaming entertainment-based products. They have TV Shows, movies, web series, sports, and other modes of entertainment streaming on their platform. For the last 5-6 years, they have been streaming the top shows and sports programs on their platform. It has led to them getting a lot of subscribers over the years. 

However, things seemed to witness a massive change when Jio Cinema won the bid to stream the IPL 2023 on their platform. After winning the bid, Jio Cinema did what Disney Plus Hot Star did in the past; provide a free live-streaming platform for its users. As a result, there was a huge loss in the number of users of Disney Plus Hot Star. 

Loss of followers count in Disney Plus Hotstar

Removal of some of the top shows from their platform did not help Disney Plus Hotstar either. It meant that the users did not have anyway but to unsubscribe from the streaming platform. In mid-2023, it was reported that there was a huge drop in the number of subscribers of Disney Plus Hotstar. Many learnt that the premium subscription of Disney Plus Hot Star was no longer attractive for the users, particularly when the IPL 2023 was streamed elsewhere. 

The fact that Jio Cinema was able to provide great streaming of the IPL 2023 and has since then been able to provide major cricket series and other shows for free has enabled more users towards the new emerging platform. It was almost like a make-or-break opportunity for Disney Plus Hot Star. If not for Jio Cinema, their number of followers might have dropped in a significant way.  

Here’s how the fans reacted to the news –