Amazon prime, Hotstar , Apple tv+ ,Amazon prime: Which Streaming services do I binge with?

As Disney plus is set to launch with Hotstar after IPL2020, we collect and examine the top headline streaming services in the country and compare their fare, their content and their backend technologies.

You have not really cemented yourself with 21^st century if you don’t have OTP platform as Entertainment provider. If we talk of India alone there are 30 new platforms which are racing with each other to break new grounds in the field of technology and innovation.  Lionsgate Play ,Voot , Tata Sky Binge, Zee5 are market forays in the market but these remain the core group of streaming services to which we subscribe instinctively at the moment.

Set Top boxes (Airtel tv, Tata Sky, and Jio) have faced critical examination and critisicm from more millennials for the lack of prompt customer service and also of the fact that inter device mobility is not smooth as it is with streaming services.

So, here we breakdown most popular streaming services in the country, along with the technologies they may use as well  how to access them.

Amazon Prime Video: 

Special/Originals:

 Fleabag, Made in Heaven, Tony Clack’s Jack Ryan. 

Additional licensed content from CBC (BlindSpot ,The office US)from ITV(Downton Abbey) and CBS(Blue blood,2 broke Girls)

Rate and access:

• Rs 129 per month, including mobile app access Rs 999 for the whole year. 
• Access: through Amazon prime video website across major browsers, through Amazon Fire Tv and Amazon Fire Stick, and through Amazon prime Video app.

USP:

Along with the Amazon prime Subscription, a user get a access to priority delivery of purchases made on Amazon, and access to Prime Music Stream, Cloud Captioning and Audio description available across most content.

Hotstar:

Special/Originals:

The Office (India), Criminal Justice, The hostages.

Additional licensing of popular regional content under the Star network such as the regional Bigg Boss episodes, shows from Star Vijay, Asianet, etc. Titles from HBO (Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, His Dark Materials), Showtime, ACB Studios, National Geographic, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, etc. And, of course, exclusive live streaming of sporting events like the IPL, Premier League, Grand Slams in India.

Rate and Access:

• Hotstar premium: Rs 999 for the whole year or Rs 299 per month in order to access all the content on the platform including Hollywood /Indian /International shows and movies, live Streaming of sports such as Cricket, Football, Tennis, and live news channel. 
• Hotstar VIP: Rs 399 for the whole year except Hollywood/Indian/International Shows and movies.
• Content can be streamed only on a single screen at a time for all accounts.

USP:

Sources suggest that the newly introduced Disney+ Streaming Services will be launched with Hotstar in the second half of 2020, after the end of Indian Premier League 2020.Hotstar is owned by Star Company, which belongs to The Walt Disney Company. Along with the entire catalog of Disney+ content localised for the Indian market by being dubbed in various Indian regional languages. Rates and specifics for the Indian market are yet to be revealed.

Netflix:

Original/Specials:

Hashan Minhaj:Patriotic act, Sacred Games, Bojack Horeseman.

Additional licensed content from NBC (Friends, The office US, Blacklist) From ABC(How to get away with murder, Grey’s Anatomy, Designated Survivor)

Rate and access:

• Mobile: Rs 199 per month to watch on 1 mobile or tablet at a time in Standard Definition and download on 1 phone or tablet.
• Basic: Rs 499 per month to watch on 1 screen at a time in Standard Definition and download videos on 1 phone or Tablet

• Standard HD: Rs 649 per month to watch on 2 screens at time. HD available. Download videos on two phones or tablets.
• Premium Ultra HD: Rs 799 per month to watch on 4 screens at time. HD and Ultra HD available. Download on 4 phones or tablets. 
• Netflix has partnered with Airtel and ACT Fibernet for discounted plans for the customer.
• Access: No exclusive-hardware required, app, website, Smart tv only). 

USP:

Netflix uses the Machine learning concept to recognize the network conditions and adjust the video quality up or down based on that. Hence, this minimizes buffering, dubbing, Cloud captioning, Audio Description available across most content.

Apple tv+:

Special/originals: The morning show, The Banker(tobereleased)

Rate and access:

• Rs 99 per month for the family plan which is not much
• Access: through Apple Tv with up-to-date software, through Amazon Fire Tv devices, through Samsung Smart Tv and through safari chrome and Firefox browser.

Back-end:

Apple is surprisingly quiet about the technology, but 

Users around world have been complaining audio-visual tags, constant buffering and Resolution inconsistency. Cloud captioning and audio visual across most content.