If you’ve been happily renewing your Jio Hotstar subscription without thinking twice, this might be the moment that makes you pause.
Starting January 28, Jio Hotstar is set to revise its subscription prices, and the biggest jump is hitting the top-tier Premium yearly plan. The price is going up from ₹1,499 to ₹2,199, which means users will be paying ₹700 more for the same annual access.
That’s not exactly pocket change — especially in a market where streaming fatigue is already very real.
What’s changing?
The headline change is clearly the Premium annual plan. This tier, which offers ad-free streaming, access to the full Hotstar library, Hollywood content, and top-tier sports coverage, is now firmly stepping into a more “premium” price bracket.
At ₹2,199 a year, Jio Hotstar is positioning itself closer to the upper end of India’s streaming ecosystem — a space already occupied by platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, each with their own strengths and pricing strategies.
While Hotstar hasn’t officially framed this as a “price hike” in marketing language (they rarely do), the math speaks for itself: a straight ₹700 increase overnight.
Why now?
From a business standpoint, the timing isn’t surprising.
Hotstar continues to pour massive money into:
Live sports rights (especially cricket)
International content partnerships
High-profile originals
Improved streaming tech and features
Sports alone — particularly marquee cricket tournaments — are incredibly expensive, and platforms usually recover those costs either through ads or subscriptions. With Premium users being ad-free, the burden shifts directly to the subscription price.
There’s also a larger industry trend at play. Nearly every major streaming service has been hiking prices globally over the last couple of years, betting that loyal users will stay even if prices creep up.
Will users stick around?
That’s the big question.
For die-hard sports fans and viewers who genuinely use Hotstar daily, the new price may still feel justified. But for casual users — those who subscribe once a year and dip in occasionally — this hike could trigger some rethinking.
₹2,199 isn’t outrageous on its own, but when stacked with Netflix, Prime Video, Spotify, and other digital subscriptions, it adds up fast.
Some users may:
Downgrade to lower-tier plans
Subscribe only during major tournaments
Or rotate subscriptions instead of keeping everything active year-round
The bottom line
Jio Hotstar’s price hike marks a clear shift: Premium is no longer trying to be “affordable for everyone.” It’s aiming to be exactly what the name suggests — premium.
Whether audiences accept that or push back with cancellations will become clear in the months following January 28. For now, if you were planning to renew at ₹1,499, you might want to do the math — and fast.
