Disney+ Hotstar to offer free mobile live stream of World Cup, Asia Cup

Walt Disney-owned Disney+ Hotstar has announced the upcoming ICC Men’s World Cup and Asia Cup tournaments will stream for free on its mobile apps. Both upcoming cricket tournaments are among the most-viewed sports events in the world, much like the Indian Premiere League that recently concluded. While Disney+ Hotstar lost rights to stream IPL matches for five years, it retains the license to offer live streaming of the Asia Cup, which kicks off in September, and the Men’s World Cup, which will begin in October.

The free live stream of Asia Cup and World Cup matches will be available to Disney+ Hotstar’s over half-a-billion smartphone users. “The move to lift the paywall for mobile-only viewers of both, the Asia Cup and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, is aimed at further democratising the game of cricket and making it accessible to as many mobile users in India as possible for the duration of the season,” Disney+ Hotstar said.

In addition to mobile apps, Disney+ Hotstar will also offer free live streaming on tablets. That means the live stream of the Asia Cup and the Men’s World Cup will not be available on Disney+ Hotstar’s website and TV apps. Customers will likely need a subscription for getting access to the said live streams later this year. Subscription plans of Disney+ Hotstar start at Rs 299.

The announcement comes days after Reliance Jio-owned JioCinema reported record viewership of 44.9 crore for IPL 2023 matches. The IPL 2023 finale saw concurrent live streams of over 3 crore — the biggest number for live sports streaming. JioCinema, which previously allowed users to stream movies and shows from Voot, disrupted the sports streaming industry by offering free access to live streams in up to 4K resolution, Dolby Atmos sound, and commentary in different Indian languages.

Disney+ Hotstar paid a huge price for losing the rights to stream IPL matches for the 2023-27 cycle by losing a large chunk of subscribers. Aggravating the pressure was the removal of HBO content from the platform. Disney+ Hotstar failed to renew the license for streaming HBO shows in India after March, further resulting in a drop in the subscriber count. JioCinema not only streamed IPL 2023 matches, it now hosts HBO’s and NBC’s shows through exclusive multi-year partnerships with US-based media companies.