Indian streaming platform Hotstar has tied up with HOOQ, a South Asian video-on-demand service, to expand its slate of international titles. The deal will give Hotstar’s premium users access to films from Warner Bros, Miramax, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate, Variety reported.
While the deal was announced on Monday, 20 television series are already being streamed on Hotstar in partnership with HOOQ, as NDTV reported last week. These include The Big Bang Theory, Friends, Arrow, The Oath and The Goldbergs. The announcement makes clear that the tie-up will also include major Hollywood titles, including Pulp Fiction (1994), Wonder Woman (2017), the Harry Potter series and Spider-Man (2002).
The Star India-owned Hotstar, launched in 2015, already offers content from HBO, Fox and Disney to paid users. Several shows from the Star network are also available for free.
HOOQ is backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment, WarnerMedia and Singtel. It is operational in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, apart from India.
Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan told Variety that the streaming platform’s English catalogue was unlike any other. “This partnership with HOOQ, with its portfolio of curated blockbuster Hollywood content, seals the argument – for an English content fan, there is nowhere else to go.”
