Disney+ Hotstar To Bid Farewell To Game Of Thrones, House Of The Dragon & Other HBO Shows

According to Deadline, Disney+ Hotstar subscribers in India will not be able to watch their favourite HBO shows on the platform as the contract between the two streaming platforms will expire on March 31, 2023.

Restructuring & Cost-Cutting

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The new portal quoted Disney CEO Bob Iger’s announcement regarding cost-cutting and restructuring at the company. According to reports, Iger is looking to cut USD 5.5 billion - 3 billion in non-sports related content and 2.5 billion in non-content related costs.

The official Twitter account of Disney+Hotstar announced, “Hi, Starting 31st March, HBO content will be unavailable on Disney+Hotstar. You can continue enjoying Disney+Hotstar’s vast library of content spanning over 100,000 hours of TV shows and movies in 10 languages and coverage of major global sporting events.”

Hi! Starting 31st March, HBO content will be unavailable on Disney+ Hotstar. You can continue enjoying Disney+ Hotstar’s vast library of content spanning over 100,000 hours of TV Shows and Movies in 10 languages and coverage of major global sporting events.

— Disney+HS_helps (@hotstar_helps) March 7, 2023

Back in 2015, Star India and HBO shook hands to stream HBO shows on Hotstar. In April 2020, the streaming platform became Disney+ Hotstar after Walt Disney Company purchased 20th Century Studios that owned Star India.

In the October-December quarter of 2022, the streaming platform witnessed a drop in subscriptions by 6%. This came after it lost the digital rights to stream the Indian Premier League cricket tournaments to Viacom18.

In August 2022, several reports pointed out that Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) had the plan to launch HBO Max as a standalone streaming platform in India. However, things did not work out as expected, and under the cost-cutting strategy, they had to let go of their plan.

Viewership Of English Content Is Limited

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It has to be noted that the viewership of English content in India is quite limited and Disney+Hotstar has a vast range of shows and movies available in Hindi and regional languages. Its Hindi titles made 50% of the most-watched content between July and December of 2022. In this area, it is far ahead of its contemporaries, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others.

During the pandemic, OTT platforms became a bighit, but today, they are facing economic uncertainties. Recent reports pointed out that every platform is driven to make profits. Their primary focus is on the content that would help them gain more subscribers.

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HBO Shows Will Be Removed

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HBO shows like Game of Thrones, Succession, House Of The Dragon and The Last Of Us among others will not be available on Disney+ Hotstar post March 31, 2023. These shows had first dropped their episodes on the streaming giant before making them available on other websites.

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However, rumours have it that Prime Video would be the sought-after choice for HBO content. It already has a few shows, including And Just Like That, The Flight Attendant, Raised By Wolves and Gossip Girl, to name a few.