Star India’s operating losses spike by 45% for June 2023-24 quarter

New Delhi: Star India's operating losses widened by 45% to $314 million in the June quarter, compared to $216 million a year ago, according to The Walt Disney Co.'s earnings report. 

Despite a slight revenue increase to $279 million from $277 million, higher programming and production costs, lower affiliate revenue, and increased advertising expenses due to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup contributed to the loss.

Disney+ Hotstar saw a slight dip in subscribers to 35.5 million, but average monthly revenue per subscriber rose from $0.70 to $1.05, driven by higher advertising revenue.

Disney's efforts to curb password sharing and increase prices are expected to boost subscriber growth and reduce churn.

In February, Reliance Industries and Disney formed a joint venture to merge Viacom18 Media and Star India, with RIL investing Rs 11,500 crore, valuing the entity at Rs 70,352 crore.