MUMBAI: Speaking during an analyst call focusing on 21st Century Fox’s investments in India, James Murdoch has said that this year’s investment by Star India into its streaming service Hotstar would be $50 million.

“We’re very comfortable that we’ll hit our $500 million EBITDA target at Star TV,” said James Murdoch. “We had decided, however, from the strong quarter in the year to continue to increase our investment in Hotstar, which for the year will be about $50 million.”

Murdoch noted that the sports business and the digital business are also growing fast. Hotstar exceeded 140 million users in April alone, he said. The India Premier League's watch time on Hotstar has grown by 2.5 times as against last year and achieved 7 million live streams during one IPL game, the highest-ever for any streamed sports event anywhere in the world.

“In the Indian TV business, our entertainment channels achieved significant regional market share growth over the past year and two of the largest regions when launching the number one national free to air in the country, Star Bharat,” Murdoch added.