After going live with Disney+ on 11 March, Indian streaming service Hotstar has now rolled back the service. In an official statement, Hotstar said that the exercise was undertaken to “test the Disney+ Hotstar app with a small number of consumers”.
“A limited release of the beta version of the Disney+ Hotstar app is currently being tested with a small number of consumers, in preparation for the full-fledged app launch on 29th March,” a Hotstar spokesperson said in a statement.
The Disney+ content, which was made available for Hotstar’s premium customers yesterday morning, disappeared after the company rolled out another update on Wednesday night. The new Disney+ Hotstar logo was reverted to the Hotstar logo.
Disney+ Hotstar went live in India yesterday, 18 days ahead of its scheduled launch on 29 March. Disney’s originals like Marvel’s Hero Project and The Mandalorian were made available for streaming in India. The new content went live on 11 March morning, catching most users by surprise.
On Monday, Hotstar (Disney-owned streaming service) rebranded itself to Disney+ Hotstar, with a change in the logo and the colour scheme, moving from its trademark green to blue.
The new branding quietly debuted on Android on Monday, and was made available on iOS as well. Many were surprised at the sudden change in the logo and got in touch with the OTT service on Twitter.
Hotstar replied to one such query on 9 March, stating that the Disney+ service will go live on 29 March. “Hi! Disney+ will be coming to Hotstar on 29th March. More details will be shared in the coming weeks. Stay tuned,” said the tweet from Hotstar’s official handle.
Diary of a Future President, Encore!, High School Musical Series, Disney Family Sundays, Fairy Tale Weddings: Season 2, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Forky Asks a Question, The Imagineering Story (limited series), One Day at Disney, Pixar in Real Life and Short Circuit are the other originals will now be available for streaming on Disney+ Hotstar on 29 March as scheduled.
The rebranding came alongside the arrival of content from Disney’s earlier catalogue, which includes films like Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Cars 3, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and A Bug’s Life, among others.
TV shows like Gravity Falls, Timon and Pumbaa, Mickey Mouse, Disney The Lion Guard, Tangled: The Series, Aaron Stone and Sofia The First, among others were also made available for streaming.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)