Recently, the merger of Jio Cinema and Disney+Hotstar happened with a new OTT platform, Jio Hotstar taking its birth. All the entertainment channels belonging to both Viacom 18 and Star India which run these OTTs came under Jio Hotstar. Now, it is learned the OTT platform has shut down 9 channels.
These 9 channels were Comedy Central, VH1, MTV Beats, Comedy Central HD, VH1 HD, MTV Beats HD, Bindass, Colors Odia and Star Kiran HD. All these channels have now been replaced with only Sports channels i.e., Star Sports 2 Telugu HD, Star Sports 2 Tamil HD, Star Sports First (Star Sports 2 Kannada), Sports18 1 (Star Sports 2 Hindi), Sports18 2 (Star Sports 2 Telugu), Sports 18 3(Star Sports 2 Tamil), Sports 18 Khel (Star Sports Khel), Sports 18 1 HD(Star Sports 2 Hindi HD).
This change drew mixed reactions on social media platforms. Few users have expressed their disappointment over this decision on the removal of music and entertainment channels that have existed all these years.