Disney Hotstar to offer free mobile streaming of cricket

Walt Disney Co’s Hotstar will offer free streaming of cricket tournaments in India on mobile devices, a move similar to its top rival JioCinema, as it aims to court more users in the country, Reuters reported.

Hotstar said it will offer the Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup tournaments at no cost to users.

The company lost the streaming rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament to Reliance Industries’ JioCinema earlier this year.

Research firm CLSA estimated that Hotstar’s subscriber base shrank by nearly 5 million users following the move.

JioCinema, which made the tournament free to watch, clocked a record 1.47 billion digital views in the first weekend of the tournament.

While JioCinema is preparing to start charging users for its content, it plans to keep IPL streaming free, Jyoti Deshpande, president of Reliance’s media and content business, told Bloomberg in an April Interview.