Disney bets on free mobile cricket streaming in India in battle with JioCinema

Walt Disney Co’s Hotstar will offer free streaming of cricket tournaments in India on mobile devices, a move that follows rival JioCinema’s recent success in garnering millions of viewers with a similar strategy in the cricket-crazy nation.

Hotstar said on Friday it would offer the Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup tournaments at no cost to users. Disney once offered cricket on its platform for free, but has required users to subscribe to a paid plan since 2020.

Disney earlier had digital rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the world’s most lucrative annual sporting properties. But JioCinema, run by Mukesh Ambani’s Viacom18, spent $2.9 billion to bag those rights and then rolled it out for free on the streaming platform.