India’s JioCinema preps HBO’s ‘House Of The Dragon’ S2 for 17 June

House Of The Dragon

Indian streaming service JioCinema is to offer the second season of HBO’s House Of The Dragon just a day after its US release.

The drama will debut on the service exclusively on 17 Jun and will be available to viewers in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi.

Episodes will drop weekly every Monday, along with the US, and is available via the JioCinema Premium subscription.

Viacom18-backed JioCinema has been in expansive mode recently, launching a ids and family service in November that offers shows including Motu Patlu Rudra, the Harry Potter franchise and Peppa Pig.

Last month, it introduced an ad-free premium subscription offering, with the lowest tier costing just 29 rupees ($0.35c) per month, as it seeks to compete with international rivals such as Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video.

The lower JioCinema Premium cost includes ad-free viewing, 4K picture quality and off-line viewing options and – most significantly – undercuts the cost of its rivals, with Netflix costing the equivalent of $2.40 and Prime Video priced at $2.15 per month in India..

Sports content including the ongoing Indian Premier League will continue to be available for free as part of JioCinema’s ad-supported offering, alongside movies including Oppenheimer and Barbie, plus original series.

Viacom 18 is owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which extended its stake following a deal that saw Paramount Global sell its 13% interest in the venture earlier this year.