JioHotstar launches in UK, Canada and Singapore

Mumbai, Streaming platform JioHotstar has announced its launch in the UK, Canada and Singapore, marking its international expansion with a catalogue of over 160,000 hours of content across more than 12 languages.

In a statement, the OTT platform said it will offer premium Indian entertainment spanning television, films, regional programming, non-fiction, kids and anime, targeting the South Asian diaspora as well as a wider global audience interested in diverse stories and cultures.

JioHotstar said it will add more than 30,000 hours of fresh content annually across the three markets.

The international launch will feature a line-up of new originals such as "Ali Baba Aur Chaalis Bhoot", "Prince of Mollywood", "Part Timers" and "The Court", alongside films and popular television programming.

Reality franchise "Bigg Boss" will also be available across six languages. For the first time, audiences in Singapore, Canada and the UK will be able to vote live across every edition of the show.

Viewers in Canada and the UK will have access to the 24x7 live feed, while Canadian audiences will also be able to watch "Bigg Boss Hindi" seven days ahead of its television broadcast.

Canada and Singapore will also get "India Ka Top 1%", a game show hosted by Anil Kapoor that tests contestants' logic and reasoning skills.

The platform will also offer programming from JioStar television channels such as Star Plus, Colors, Star Vijay, Asianet, Star Jalsha and Star Pravah.

Audiences in Singapore and Canada will get before-TV access to shows including "Anupama", "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai", "Seher Hone Ko Hai" and "Azhagae Azhagu", while viewers in the UK will be able to watch select shows simultaneously with their television broadcast.

The library will include originals such as "Criminal Justice", "Special Ops", "Asur", "Aarya", "Kerala Crime Files" and "Heartbeat", as well as reality shows including "Koffee with Karan", "Khatron Ke Khiladi", "MTV Hustle", "Splitsvilla", "Roadies" and "Cooku with Comali".

The platform will also offer films such as "Dhurandhar", "Chhichhore", "Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh", "Kill", "12th Fail" and "Jab We Met".

JioHotstar will introduce quarterly subscription plans across all three markets for the first time, alongside annual plans.

The quarterly and annual plans in the UK will cost GBP 19.99 and GBP 69.99, respectively. In Canada, the plans will be priced at CAD 19.99 and CAD 49.99, while Singapore subscribers will pay SGD 29.98 for a quarterly plan and SGD 69.98 annually.

Amit Malhotra, Head – International Business at JioStar, said the company's ambition was not merely to export an Indian streaming service to international markets.