Who Will Win The Streaming Wars?

Global giants such as Netflix and Amazon have entered the fray. But they now have to face hotstar, The streaming service from the man who brought western TV to India: Rupert Murdoch

- Debabrata Das

In many many ways, India's tryst with cable television represents a Bildungsroman for the middle class. After liberalisation in 1991, cable TV shattered state-owned network Doordarshan’s staid monopoly, and old, crackling radios gave way to booming television sets. One television network, perhaps more than any other, symbolised this new reality: Star. When billionaire Rupert Murdoch purchased Hong Kong-based Star TV in 1993, he had locked himself into the rising fortunes of the Asian middle class “in helping American culture proliferate”, as Time magazine put it at the time.

Murdoch was one of the first to recognise the potential of India and China as lucrative viewer bases for both global and local content. While conquering Asia may have been his goal, things didn’t go entirely to plan. China’s strict restrictions hobbled Star’s growth there, but the network benefited hugely from India’s open skies policy. Though journalism ethics scandals in the West damaged Murdoch’s reputation over the years, his Indian business thrived.

From the early 2000s, India became the fastest-growing, and in effect, the most crucial international market for 21st Century Fox, Star India’s parent company. And Star India hasn’t looked back since.

That’s why Star India moved fast when it sensed a new revolution was around the corner, a digital one this time. When it started streaming live sports online through its website four years ago, many market observers dismissed the move as premature. India was hugely under penetrated in terms of networks and had notoriously slow Internet speeds. It also disrupted Star India’s own core business: broadcast television.