Is It worth to Buy Hotstar USA?
To know the answer to this question, we need to go through each detail about Hotstar, its subscription plans, features and contents. Hotstar is an OTT services company owned by Disney. It provides Indian content like Hindi movies, TV shows, live TV channels and Cricket matches. To know the worth of any service, cost plays an important factor. Let’s discuss its subscription package first.
Hotstar subscription cost
Hotstar has only one subscription plan in the USA. It charges $49.99 annually and offers all premium features in the single subscription package. Neither you need any add-ons nor any premium app to avail of all its content. A single subscription will let you access all its content.
A large number of Hotstar subscribers find a single subscription not worthy. The taste of entertainment varies from person to person. A few like to watch Cricket and other sports and not interested in movies and TV shows. Nevertheless, they pay for the content they don’t watch.
Hotstar needs to makes its subscription plan more customer-friendly. They can add VIP and premium subscriptions like India. The customer who wishes to watch only Cricket and other sports can sign up VIP plan only. Moreover, a monthly plan will make subscribers more convenient to sign up.
When we compare the pricing with other streaming services, it is fairly priced. Moreover, you can purchase its subscription at a 10% discount by using Hotstar promo codes. You will pay only $44.99 + taxes after the discount.
Does Hotstar offer a free trial?
No, Hotstar does not offer a free trial in the USA. I think Hotstar should consider to offers a free trial of at least 3 days to new customers. Most of the streaming services in the USA offer a free trial of 7 – 30 days duration. During the free trial, customers can test its features and make a decision to subscribe or not. This will also reduce cancellations and refunds.
In absence of a free trial, Hotstar does have a refund policy. Customers who are not satisfied with the services can cancel their subscription and ask for a refund within 48 hours of activation. The subscription cost will be refunded within 7 days. After 48 hours, there will be no refund. This time frame may be increased up to 7 days for proper testing of its features.
What you will get $49.99
Hotstar beats all of its rivals in terms of content and pricing. It is the most subscribed OTT platform in India due to its content only.
- Live sports – You can watch IPL matches, Cricket world cup, bilateral cricket series exclusively on Hotstar. In addition to Cricket, it covers other sports like Kabaddi, football, tennis and Hockey matches too. However, Cricket is the most-watched sport on Hotstar.
- Streaming on 2 screens – You can play Hotstar on 2 devices simultaneously. While other streaming platforms offer it as an add-on service.
- Unlimited downloads – With Hotstar annual plan, you can download your favorite show and watch it later when you are offline. There is no cap on the number of downloads. The same service is being sold by other platforms as DVR storage and charge customers monthly.
- Support 8 Regional languages – Hotstar supports Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam. You can switch subtitles of programs. Moreover, you will find live TV channels of each language.
- Live TV Channels – Hotstar has more than 25 live TV channels in the USA. These channels include news, sports, entertainment and comedy.
- Video on Demand – Hotstar claims to have more than 85000 hours of entertainment content. You will find Bollywood movies, TV programs, Hotstar specials and much more.
Conclusion
With so much content and features, Hotstar worth trying at once. Its closest rival Sony Liv charges $9 a month with less content and no live TV channel. Additionally, you are getting two streams and a live cricket match broadcast. A free trial and a monthly subscription would have made Hotstar plans more attractive and competitive.
