In 2019, the Walt Disney Company launched its exclusive digital streaming service, pointedly named Disney+. After pulling out almost all of its library of digital content from other “general” platforms like Netflix, the House of Mouse put all of them into Disney+ and sweetened the deal with some sweet original programming across its primary “labels” of Disney, Marvel (Cinematic Universe) and LucasFilm’s “Star Wars.” Unfortunately, the services was initially available only on North America, Europe and Australia, with months and then years crawling by before South America, North Africa, India, Japan and Indonesia got it. The rest of the world either withered on the vine or resorted to using VPNs.
But for certain, unspecified
parts of Southeast Asia, the Disney+ drought may soon be coming to an end. IGN reports that binge watchers in the
region may soon be able to legit watch “The Mandalorian,” “WandaVision,” and “High
School Musical: The Musical: The Series” (yes, that is real) among many others,
courtesy of a Disney+-merged streaming service that is reasonably near. That
would be Hotstar, one of the top media platforms from India owned and run by
now-Disney subsidiary Star India. Hotstar is already established in Indonesia,
and is expanding to Malaysia and Singapore and, hopefully, the rest of SEA.
Hotstar usually carries sports
content and domestic programming from India (particularly of Star India), but
ever since its integration with Disney+ back in early 2020, there is now a
dedicated content tab on the Hotstar home page for all the hottest stuff
courtesy of Disney+. Recall that the main streaming platform carries not just
Disney films, animations and TV series, but also Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and
National Geographic. And they all could be had in Southeast Asia sooner or
later, as a post from the new official Hotstar Malaysia Instagram account
teases so teasingly.
Disney+ Hotstar was available in
India for a yearly subscription worth about US$14. The platform’s rates and
subscription duration in its new SEA stomping grounds are not yet known; there
are concerns that the price may spike, but that is just speculation. For now,
the best Southeast Asians outside of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore can do
is wait and hope.
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