On February 17, the third season of The White Lotus premièred on JioHotstar. But with the very first episode of creator Mike White’s acclaimed series, the recently launched platform has courted controversy. Sources say that JioHotstar has drawn sharp criticism from international partner HBO for censoring two scenes in the satire.

A scene, which sees Nicholas Duvernay cursing at a Buddha idol, was missing from the Indian stream, while another sequence involving masturbation was reduced. We’re told the changes caught eagle-eyed viewers’ attention as the platform had uploaded the original episode on the morning of February 17, and reportedly replaced it with the edited version by noon.

Sources say that these modifications didn’t go down well with HBO and it called for a discussion late last week. “HBO has been firm about maintaining creative integrity across global markets. Last week, the team initiated a discussion with JioHotstar about preventing such alterations in the future. The media network also highlighted that it was uncomfortable with changes being made to its content without prior discussions. This isn’t the first time that content has been tweaked for the Indian market. In June 2024, Jio Cinema had taken down an episode of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver that centred on Indian elections. International platforms are frustrated because these edits often happen without consulting them,” a source said.

Following the backlash, JioHotstar is said to be reassessing its approach to international content. A company insider, on condition of anonymity, said, “We’ll have to exercise caution before making modifications. The content must be in accordance with local sensibilities. At the same time, the platform can’t alienate key international partners.”

mid-day sent a detailed e-mail to JioHotstar, but it didn’t respond till press time.

Mumbai: Disney+ Hotstar will no longer be the default destination for HBO content in India beginning March 31 following non-renewal of the deal, potentially leading to higher subscriber churn for the OTT platform that also lost out on the digital rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) — the richest tournament in the sport.

Disney+ Hotstar has been the home of HBO content ever since the two companies signed an exclusive pact in 2015. As of December 2022, the platform had 57.50 million paid subscribers.

In the October-December quarter, the platform had lost 3.80 million subscribers after losing IPL rights and the non-renewal of content deal with telecom giant Reliance Jio.

“Starting March 31, HBO content will be unavailable on Disney+ Hotstar. You can continue enjoying Disney+Hotstar’s vast library of content spanning over 100,000 hours of TV shows and movies in 10 languages and coverage of major global sporting events," the platform said in a message on its official social media handle.

Experts say that Disney+ Hotstar will find it tough to add new users in the coming quarters. “The absence of IPL, the termination of its partnership with Jio, constrained entertainment budgets, and the recent discontinuation of HBO content on the platform — all of these factors will significantly diminish the value proposition for subscribers, a considerable number of whom are slated for renewal in the upcoming months,” said Mihir Shah, VP, Media Partners Asia.

He added that the platform might lose a large number of subscribers by the end of 2023, notwithstanding the presence of the ICC Cricket World Cup later in the year.

“Despite some promising content lined up for the second half of the year, such as the Asia Cup and the ICC fifty-over World Cup, Disney+ Hotstar is currently facing a slippery slope, with the potential loss of close to 15 million subscribers by the end of 2023,” he said.

Elara Capital, research analyst (media, consumer discretionary & internet), Karan Taurani believes that the loss of IPL and HBO content will make it challenging for the platform to retain subscribers. “We expect the negative impact of IPL loss on the subscriber base to be in the 25-30% on a gross basis and the net impact to be 15-20% in case they added up subscribers because of other content,” Taurani said.