Announced October 6th by JioStar, JioHotstar’s parent company, the deal makes the service available as a dedicated destination within STARZPLAY’s app and website. The launch follows JioHotstar’s recent international expansion into the U.K., Canada and Singapore. The service became available in the MENA region on October 7th.
The offering includes JioHotstar Originals released alongside their Indian premieres, television programming from JioStar’s channels, blockbuster films and reality franchises including Bigg Boss and Koffee with Karan. Content will span Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla and other languages, with audio tracks available in up to 10 languages.
The company is placing particular emphasis on Malayalam programming, reflecting the region’s substantial Malayali population. The strategy targets South Asian expatriate audiences while positioning Indian entertainment for a broader multilingual market.
Two subscription options will provide access to the service. STARZPLAY’s PLUS plan, priced at AED 34.99 ($9.50) per month, includes JioHotstar’s entertainment library. The MAX plan, at AED 49.99 ($13.60) monthly, combines the full JioHotstar offering with STARZPLAY’s sports portfolio, including cricket and other major sporting events.
For STARZPLAY, the partnership offers an opportunity to deepen engagement with an audience already familiar with its sports coverage. CEO Maaz Sheikh said the addition of JioHotstar would extend the platform’s relationship with South Asian viewers beyond cricket and into everyday entertainment.
The agreement also gives JioHotstar access to STARZPLAY’s established regional distribution network. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, STARZPLAY reported 2.3 million subscribers and more than 18 million app downloads in the company’s announcement. Its programming spans Hollywood films, Arabic series, Turkish dramas, original productions and live sports.
The expansion is part of a broader international strategy for JioHotstar, which reports 500 million monthly active users and a library exceeding 300,000 hours of programming across 19 languages. The platform emerged from the combination of Reliance Industries’ and Disney’s Indian media businesses, creating a major streaming operation with extensive television, film and sports rights.
Unlike its launches in the U.K., Canada and Singapore, where JioHotstar entered as a standalone service, the MENA rollout uses a partner-led distribution model. TechCrunch reported that the financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
JioStar’s international business chief Amit Malhotra described MENA as a priority market because of its large South Asian diaspora and demand for entertainment across languages. The launch was marked by a projection featuring JioHotstar branding on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
The deal underscores a broader streaming-industry shift toward partnerships that combine international content libraries with established regional platforms, potentially lowering the barriers to market entry while giving local services additional programming to retain subscribers.