Hada News
JioHotstar enters MENA as a hub inside Starzplay, bundled from AED 34.99 a month
India's JioHotstar launched in the Middle East and North Africa on 6 October through Abu Dhabi-based Starzplay. It sits as a dedicated hub in Starzplay's app and website and comes with the AED 34.99 Plus plan; the AED 49.99 Max plan adds Starzplay's sport, cricket included.
JioStar has brought its JioHotstar streaming service to the Middle East and North Africa through a partnership with Abu Dhabi-based Starzplay, the companies announced on 6 October. Rather than launching its own app in the region, JioHotstar appears as a dedicated destination inside Starzplay's app and website.
Access is folded into Starzplay's existing plans. JioHotstar content is included in the Plus plan at AED 34.99 a month. The Max plan, at AED 49.99, pairs it with Starzplay's sport rights, where cricket is the main draw. According to Variety, new JioHotstar originals will reach the region at the same time as their release in India, with audio in up to 10 languages, alongside series from JioStar's TV channels, films and reality formats. Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Bangla titles are included, and Variety notes an especially deep Malayalam catalogue aimed at viewers from Kerala.
MENA follows JioHotstar launches in the UK, Canada and Singapore. Amit Malhotra, JioStar's head of international business, called the region a crucial next market because of its large South Asian diaspora. Starzplay chief executive Maaz Sheikh said the deal carries the platform's cricket relationship with South Asian households into everyday entertainment. Variety reports that Starzplay, whose investors include e&'s evision unit and ADQ, has 2.3 million subscribers across MENA and Pakistan.
Why it matters: South Asian residents make up one of the largest audiences in the Gulf. Putting the service Variety calls India's largest streamer inside a regional platform, rather than competing app against app, is a distribution model other foreign services could copy. It also adds competition for diaspora viewers on Shahid, OSN+ and Netflix.
Sources: Variety, 6 Oct 2026; The Hindu BusinessLine, 6 Oct 2026.
Watch next: whether JioHotstar later sells a standalone MENA subscription, any change to Starzplay's prices, and subscriber figures after the launch.