The merger between Disney+ Hotstar and Reliance’s Viacom18 took place last year. Since then, people have been eagerly waiting for the merger of Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, hoping that content from both platforms would be available in one place. While the company didn’t merge the two apps at the time, it now seems likely to happen.
Jio Star has started teasing this merger. After the Disney-Star and Reliance merger, a new entity named Jio Star was created. It is believed that once the apps are merged, the new platform will be called Jio Hotstar, though earlier speculations suggested it might be named Jio Star.
Disney Star shared a teaser on its X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday evening, stating, “The beginning of a new era.” The teaser also featured a star emoji and hinted at “What happens when two worlds of entertainment merge into one universe?”
Meanwhile, several posts on Reddit and X suggest that JioCinema’s subscription auto-pay mandates are being cancelled. This indicates that the company might not be adding new subscribers to JioCinema, possibly due to pricing strategies. Currently, JioCinema’s subscription is available for ₹29 per month.
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Additionally, some viral images on social media suggest that the TATA WPL (Women’s Premier League) will be streamed live on Jio Hotstar and Star Sports Network. Another post shows that JioCinema Originals and Colors Rishtey Hub have been added to Disney+ Hotstar.
This suggests that once the Disney-Reliance joint venture officially announces the new platform, it will offer content from Disney, Warner Bros, HBO, Max Originals, Colors, and more—all in one place. This means that JioHotstar will be the ultimate entertainment destination.
With this, JioHotstar (or JioStar) will directly compete with Netflix and Prime Video. The biggest question now is how much the subscription will cost. Given Jio’s track record, it is expected that the company will introduce the platform at a competitive price.