Disney+Hotstar Could End Account Sharing in India Following Netflix’s Lead
Disney-owned streaming platform Disney+Hotstar is said to be considering measures to restrict password sharing among its premium users in India, following in the footsteps of Netflix.
Disney’s plan comes just as rival Netflix in May began telling subscribers in more than 100 countries that they must pay
more share the service with people outside their household. In India, despite the Disney+ Hotstar website having a limit of four devices to log in, the premium account still allows you to log in up to 10 devices for streaming.
Disney+ Hotstar has been conducting internal tests to ensure the implementation of the policy and plans to roll it out later this year, limiting logins to four devices with such accounts. This change is likely to encourage some users to purchase their own subscriptions, the sources told Reuters.
According to the report, India’s Disney+ Hotstar didn’t follow the four-device login policy because it didn’t want to inconvenience premium users and had found internally that only about 5 percent of its premium subscribers logged in from more than four devices.
The new planned restriction also applies to its cheaper plan, which limits the use of two devices, Reuters reported.
Netflix recently introduced a new password-sharing policy in India that is slightly different from its global strategy. There is no option for Netflix users in India to pay extra if multiple people can use the same account. You must be in the same household to use the same Netflix account.
“The Netflix account is used by one household. Everyone living in that household can use Netflix anywhere – at home, on the go, on vacation – and take advantage of new features such as Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices,” the company stated in the release.
In India, Netflix users have been able to use one account in multiple households, allowing them to split the subscription fee among friends or relatives. Now, Netflix now only allows users with the same internet connection to use a particular account. Anyone outside of the “Netflix household” cannot access the content.
