New Delhi: The streaming of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will no longer be free for cricket fans in India on the rebranded JioHotstar app. The JioHostar streaming platform was launched on Friday after the merger of Viacom18 and Star India, also known as JioStar. While the merger was announced last year, the JioHotstar app was officially launched on Friday with a new logo.
Under the merger called JioStar, the JioHotstar app and the website will be the new streaming destination for entertainment and live sports for more than 50 crore users in India. However, it is not good news for cricket fans as they will no longer have access to free streaming of the IPL like they did in the old Jio Cinema app.
JioHotar has announced new hybrid subscription models for the users and cricket fans will have to choose one of the plans to watch live action in the upcoming IPL 2025 which is expected to kick off in March this year. As per a report in Reuters, the viewers will be able to watch only a few minutes of action in a match without a subscription before getting redirected to the subscription page on the JioHotstar app.
Earlier, the JioCinema app used to provide free live streaming of the IPL on its app and the website for both mobile and television viewers. Jio bagged the online streaming rights of the IPL starting in 2023 for a sum of around $3 billion and streamed the tournament free for the last three seasons. However, that reportedly won’t be the case anymore from the upcoming IPL 2025.
The decision to withdraw free streaming of the IPL comes after Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group bought Walt Disney’s India business last year. Reliance-owned Viacom18 and Walt Disney combined their Indian media assets in a merger worth $8.5 billion last year.
What are the subscription plans on JioHotstar?
While Star India held hosting rights for multiple cricketing events, including the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025, Viacom18 held the online streaming rights of the IPL, Women’s Premier League (WPL) and some major ICC events. However, after the JioStar merger, the online live streaming of all events will be available only on the JioHotstar app and the website.
The new rebranded app is offering a host of hybrid subscription models as of now. As per the JioHotstar website, the basic plan starts at Rs 149 for 3 months with all sporting events, including the IPL, football, tennis and more. However, the Rs 149 plan is only for 1 mobile device at a time. The annual subscription of the same is for Rs 499.
The other plan is for Rs 299 for 3 months where users can access content on 2 devices at a time, including mobile, laptop, PC or television. The annual subscription for the two-device plans is Rs 899. The Premium (ad-free) plan starts at Rs 299 per month, allowing content access on 4 devices at a time. The premium plan for 3 months costs Rs 499 while the annual subscription costs Rs 1499.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) will no longer be streamed for free on the JioHotstar app, the new streaming platform launched after the merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. JioHotstar has announced new subscription plans ahead of the new season. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
