Disney+ Hotstar to remove all HBO content
If you are a Disney+Hotstar subscriber and have a couple of HBO content that is still on your watchlist, it is better to wrap up watching it soon. After March 31, HBO’s original content will not be available on the OTT platform and the same was confirmed by Disney+Hotstar earlier this month. Some of the titles that will no longer be available to watch are Game Of Thrones, House of The Dragon, The Time Traveller’s Wife, and the recently-released show, The Last Of Us.
Disney+Hotstar to lose HBO content
In a tweet on March 7, Disney+Hotstar’s official support handle confirmed the removing of HBO exclusive content in a tweet.
The tweet read, “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.”
Where can users watch HBO content?
While it is disappointing to know that your favorite HBO shows will no longer be a part of Disney+Hotstar subscription, there is a glimmer of hope. The exclusive HBO content might be available on Amazon Prime in the form of another subscription. However, nothing has been officially announced by the company.
For users living in United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, a streaming service named HBO Max is pretty popular and has all the exclusive HBO content. These users can sign up for HBO Max using their Amazon Prime account for a fee of USD 15.99 per month in case they want an ads free access. The cost is lower in case the users opt for the account with ads.
Since Disney+Hotstar will be losing out on the HBO content now, it makes sense for HBO to launch HBO Max for Indian users as well. Also, HBO shows had disappeared from Amazon Prime in September 2021. However, In December 2022, the shows returned.
What’s happening at Disney
Disney announced its decision to lay off 7,000 employees in January this year. The layoffs at were announced by CEO Robert Iger during a call with analysts. While announcing the tough decision, he had said, “I do not make this decision lightly. I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide,” He also announced his decision of “targeting $5.5 billion of cost savings across the company”. The CEO then added that the cost-cutting and reduced workforce count will help in achieving his goal.
“Our priority is the enduring growth and profitability of our streaming business,” Iger continued further and said that the company’s forecast indicates that ‘Disney Plus will hit profitability by the end of fiscal 2024’.
Reports of the company asking managers to prepare a list of candidates to be affected by layoffs had also surfaced recently.
