[ValarMorghulis]

Rejoice fans of Succession, Game of Thrones and other HBO/ Warner Brother shows: Warner Bros, HBO content will soon be available on Reliance Jio Cinema.

The deal between Reliance's Viacom18 would see Warner Bros as well as its HBO content becoming available on Reliance's JioCinema app, including popular shows such as Succession, Game of Thrones and the upcoming Harry Potter series. The partnership will be exclusive and see most of Warner's marquee content on the JioCinema platform.

Link

[windrider]

There was a time when most of the shows I liked would be available on hotstar or maybe Amazon prime and that too at reasonable rates. Now everything is separate and I will have to subscribe to 4 or 5 OTT platforms if I want to watch stuff. An F1 app for god's sake. How long before the premier league also starts a separate app?It was good while it lasted

[GTO]

Hotstar's loss is Jio's gain. Jio smells opportunities & I had a feeling they will pick HBO up. Am surprised that, in an age where content is everything, Hotstar so easily let go of HBO and disappointed their subscribers. Ditto with Formula 1. It will cost Hotstar big time in the long run.

Happy with Jio! Succession Season 4, here I come (finally!).

[ValarMorghulis]

Now, I hope Jio manages to get F1 races too. That'll be the cherry on the cake!

[catchjyoti]

Originally Posted by GTO

Hotstar's loss is Jio's gain. Jio smells opportunities & I had a feeling they will pick HBO up. Am surprised that, in an age where content is everything, Hotstar so easily let go of HBO and disappointed their subscribers. Ditto with Formula 1. It will cost Hotstar big time in the long run.

Happy with Jio! Succession Season 4, here I come (finally!).

Already started costing them. My yearly subscription got over on 25th April and I chose not to extend it.

Seems Bobby boy is aiming to cut $3 Billion in content costs.

[raksrules]

I am worried they will censor the content ruthlessly.

Originally Posted by windrider

I think it's time I go back to using torrent. There was a time when most of the shows I liked would be available on hotstar or maybe Amazon prime and that too at reasonable rates. Now everything is seperate and I will have to subscribe to 4 or 5 OTT platforms if I want to watch stuff. An F1 app for god's sake. How long before the premier league also starts a seperate app?It was good while it lasted

Never Left.

[Silverfire]

Reliance’s ambition and execution is to marvel at. Whichever market they are entering it is with the commitment of deep pocket investment and clear goal to be no 1.

They decided to get into the streaming game and went for the biggest eyeball driver - IPL. Not only did they win the rights but made it free! And the experience is so much better than Hotstar’s with custom camera angles, commentary in over 10 languages and 4K with Dolby Atmos!

Now with this deal they have arguably gotten access to the highest quality content slate out there.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they strike a deal and get F1 also on the platform.

[TheRandomGuy]

Originally Posted by raksrules

I am worried they will censor the content ruthlessly.

This is a bigger problem than not having the content at all. HBO is known to create content without any filters, would be really bad if they are cut out.

More than the video, I'll be super pissed if audio is messed with, removing curse words and adding a different non cuss-word is a major put-off in a gripping series/movie.

[narayans80]

If Peacock is moving to Jiocinema as mentioned here (The TV / Streaming shows thread (no spoilers please)).

Would House MD move out of Amazon Prime into Jiocinema?

[alpha1]

By the way, is HBO movie channel available anywhere these days?
OTT apps? Fiber SET top box? Live channels/Satellite channels?

[anivy]

Originally Posted by alpha1

By the way, is HBO movie channel available anywhere these days?
OTT apps? Fiber SET top box? Live channels/Satellite channels?

The HBO and WB channels ceased broadcasting in India sometime around end of 2020. Only streaming option now.

Source

[sanjayrozario]

Originally Posted by GTO

Am surprised that, in an age where content is everything, Hotstar so easily let go of HBO and disappointed their subscribers. Ditto with Formula 1. It will cost Hotstar big time in the long run.

Hotstar is now run by Disney which is sedate & focuses more on bottomline. Hence, they let F1 & HBO content go. Earlier it was run by Uday Shankar & the Murdochs who were aggressive & took big bets on content acquisition & innovations.

If left to me, then I won't renew my subscription (no F1), but I'll have to renew because of the kids & the plethora of Disney content.

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by Silverfire

Reliance’s ambition and execution is to marvel at. Whichever market they are entering it is with the commitment of deep pocket investment and clear goal to be no 1.
.

Deep pockets without execution would just be a waste. The way Jio adds customers is something that should be part of case studies at top business schools(maybe they already are).

Booked a Jio Fibre connection + Set top box online at 11pm. Jio agent visited home by 12 and completed all formalities by 12:30pm. Got welcome messages including landline number immediately. Installation guys came at 4pm and installed router and set top box by 5 and everything was up and running by 5:30 the same day. Installation engineers gave their phone number and asked me to call them if I face any issues. Next day I was not able to setup tv power and volume from Jio set top remote. Called the guy and he came up in just 45 mins and replaced the remote. I was not expecting such exemplary service from them but am a big fan now and whole heartedly recommend them.

Glad to hear that HBO deal has been mopped up by them. My timing seems perfect!!

[DigitalOne]

A bit of a noob question - If I take a Jio Fibre + set top box connection which gives Netflix subscription also, can I watch Netflix on other devices? Do I have to cancel my current independent Netflix subscription or does it get migrated to Jio?

How does it work for Amazon Prime? Will i continue to get Amazon Prime discounts on my Amazon ICICI credit cards?

[Iconoclast]

HBO content and F1 adds only a microscopic minority of paying subscribers to Hotstar's base of ~50mn. paying subscribers. A vast majority of Hotstar's paying subscribers have historically been there for the Cricket content. Loss of IPL rights will pinch them here as Hotstar usage jumped up by 60%+ during IPL in the yesteryears. The second major cohort is middle aged folks across the country using it as second screen for watching the serials that are also shown on TV.

Since Disney took over, the focus has shifted to profitability and holding onto these non-profitable digital assets made little sense. The priority obviously was cricket. The second major priority is original programming (movies, series etc.); not just in Hindi, but also in regional languages.

If we look at content consumption across TV - approx. 50% is regional languages, ~49% is Hindi and 1-2% is English. As OTTs become more democratized, those ratios will reflect there as well; making Indian language content the most crucial for all OTT players.

As for Jio; they've only just entered the Sports business and are in the growth phase wherein profits and break-even are secondary priorities. An example of the same is IPL - they bid as much for the digital rights; as Disney bid for TV. This despite the fact that they are offering it for free (bringing in no subscription revenues) and that Ad revenues on TV is 2.5-3.0X vs Digital. So they'll keep picking up rights to establish themselves as a major source for entertainment.

Apart from IPL at this juncture, they don't have any major rights as yet. So they are building up a portfolio of rights and events that can fill up the entire calendar; so that people don't forget about the app once the IPL is over. As of now, they have FIFA rights (once in four years), Serie A, La Liga & Ligue 1; all minor events as International football viewing in India is dominated by the Premier League; rights for which again sits with Disney. ISL though is a fairly big event (in West Bengal, Kerala & North East) in their kitty.