iWorld
Indians await eagerly as Disney+ launches in foreign markets
Mumbai: Walt Disney’s OTT service Disney+ launched in the US, Canada and Netherlands today, even as there is no clarity on when its unmatchable content library, offering 500 films and 7,500 episodes of television, will be made available to Indian viewers through its Hotstar platform.
In April it was reported that while Disney+ will not be launched in India, viewers will still be able to stream its content directly via Hotstar at no extra cost. This could be a smart move since Hotstar, which is a subsidiary of Star India, is now owned by Disney and having a subscriber base of over 300 million, it’s currently the most popular OTT platform in India.
Hotstar, reportedly, has elaborate plans to localise Disney+ content, by dubbing shows and movies and adding subtitles in multiple Indian languages including Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Hotstar already offers its original shows in seven Indian languages.
While November also saw the launch of much-awaited Apple TV+ at as low as Rs 99 per month in India, Disney+, a late-entrant to OTT platform, is set to stand out in the crowded Indian OTT market, owing to its unmatchable content library.
Disney+ unmatchable content library
The streaming service will offer over 500 movies, including three of the four highest grossing films of all time – Avengers: Endgame, Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens – as well as films from Marvel Studios including Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger and Ant-Man.
Rounding off the movie line-up are Marvel television series from the 1970s to present day, including X-Men, Spider-Man and Marvel’s Runaways.
In addition, Disney+ will offer content from National Geographic including the critically acclaimed and award- winning documentary Free Solo and the streaming debut of Science Fair.
Also in the library are all six of the original classic Star Wars films released between 1977 and 1999, in addition to recent blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. By the end of 2020, the entire Skywalker saga will be available on the service. Besides, it has 30 seasons of The Simpsons, 18 Pixar movies – including Wall-E, Up, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and Brave – plus thousands of episodes of Disney Channel and Disney Junior series. These include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Kim Possible, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, PJ Masks and Jake & the Never Land Pirates.
Disney+ India strategy
In April it was reported that Hotstar is going to offer Disney+ content at no extra cost. Its existing plans are—Hotstar Premium at Rs 299 per month and Rs 999 per year and Hotstar VIP at Rs. 365 per year.
Given Disney’s unmatched content library and the fact that this content will be streaming on Hotstar at no extra cost, Indian consumers, especially in the metro cities, are eagerly awaiting its launch. Marvel Studio films have a huge fan base in Indian metro cities and although Disney+ has not announced any Indian original shows, this is not going to pinch subscribers as they already have access to Hotstar original Indian shows in as many as seven Indian languages.
Industry experts are unanimous that the strategy behind bundling of Disney+ content at Hotstar will, no doubt, help the OTT platform that already has exclusive digital telecasting rights for big sporting events like IPL, ISL, and pro-Kabbadi league, and will help it emerge as the undisputed leader in the crowded OTT market in India.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
