Disney+ will not launch in India on March 29 due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Hotstar confirmed on Friday. Disney+ was supposed to go live in India in conjunction with the beginning of the IPL 2020, but since that has been delayed due to coronavirus, Hotstar has decided to postpone their launch as well. Much like the IPL, Disney+ India launch has also been delayed ‘indefinitely.’
“We recently announced that Disney+ would launch in India through the Hotstar service in conjunction with the beginning of the Indian Premier League cricket season. Given the delay of the season, we have made the decision to briefly pause the roll-out of Disney+ and will announce a new revised premiere date for the service soon, Uday Shankar, who is president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, and chairman of Star India and The Walt Disney Company India said in a statement given out to Financial Express Online over email.
The announcement comes days after Hotstar cancelled an on-ground event in Mumbai to reveal more details about the Disney+ India launch.
Prior to this, Hotstar had tested the service with a limited beta release wherein Hotstar Premium (and VIP) users could access ‘all’ Disney+ content in India ‘briefly’ at no extra cost. The beta testing of Disney+ has since been closed.
“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 had said in a statement at the time.
The beta test went live on March 11 for many users (including myself), a good three weeks before Disey+ official launch, in India. Hotstar had been silently updating its app and logo ahead of Disney+ India launch and both the things were updated briefly during the beta test. Hotstar had rebranded the app as Disney+Hotstar – with Disney+ content resting inside a separate tab in the Hotstar app for both iOS and Android. The content layout was reminiscent of the original service that has been available in the US since November last year.
