First Disney+ Hotstar lost the Indian Premier League streaming rights. Then it let go rights to Formula 1 as the “price was not right”. Now the latest setback for the Disney-owned on-demand video streaming giant is that it will lose HBO content at the end of the month.
“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,” the streaming service posted on Twitter.
The loss of HBO content is no doubt a big deal. But the biggest loss by a country mile and more is that of IPL digital streaming rights to Viacom18, which ended Disney Star’s five-year hold on the streaming portion of world cricket’s most prized media property.
Hotstar still has about 50 million subscribers, but for the first time, it will definitely struggle to even retain them — let alone add new ones.
Par for the course no doubt, considering that in the October-December quarter earnings call, Disney had announced plans to cut $5 billion in expenditure.
CEO Iger had then said it is time for another transformation, “one that rationalises the company’s enviable streaming business and puts it on a path to sustain growth and profitability, while also reducing expenses to improve margins and returns and better positioning us to weather future disruption, increased competition and global economic challenges”.
Since profitability is the mantra, the big Q is what other sports and / or entertainment offerings will be taken “off the menu” to ensure the goals set by the Disney HQ are firmly adhered to.
