Short answer: a licensed Indian TV subscription in the US costs anywhere from about $10 to $55 a month, and the price tracks one thing: whether you want live channels or just shows. Streaming bundles like Sling's Desi packs sit at the low end. Cable and satellite Hindi packs cost more and need a full base package on top. The catch is that no single subscription carries all three big networks (Star, Zee and Sony) live, so most households end up paying for two things.
| Subscription | Listed price | What you get | Needs a base plan? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sling Dakshin Flex | $10/mo | Vijay TV, Star Maa, Asianet, Simply South, Hotstar Specials, Willow | No |
| Sling Desi Binge Plus | $15/mo | SonyLIV, Hotstar Specials, Star India On Demand, MX One, Willow | No |
| Sling Hindi pack | About $30/mo (2023 listing) | Star Plus, Sony, Colors, Star Bharat, Willow and more live | No |
| Xfinity Hindi Plus Pack | $39.99/mo | Zee TV HD, SET HD, TV Asia HD, Willow on demand | Yes, X1 TV |
| DISH Hindi Mega Pack | $54.99/mo | 40+ channels incl. Zee TV, SET, Colors, Aaj Tak, NDTV 24x7, Willow | Yes, America's Top |
| ZEE5 (US) | About $60/yr | Zee shows and films, some live channels | No |
| YuppTV | Varies by language pack | Live regional channels with catch-up | No |
| Willow | $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr | Cricket only | No |
Prices are from each provider's own pages or authorised dealer listings, checked October 2026. Sling prices are from its 2025 Desi pages; the Hindi pack figure is from a 2023 Sling listing and may have changed. Taxes, regional sports fees and equipment aren't included.
At a glance
Paying for Indian channels in the US
| Cheapest licensed live TV | Sling Dakshin Flex, $10/mo |
| Best value for Hindi shows | Sling Desi Binge Plus, $15/mo with Willow |
| Most live Hindi channels | DISH Hindi Mega, but $54.99 plus a base plan |
| Not available in the US | JioHotstar; DIRECTV lists no Hindi packs |
| Ignore | "15,000 channels for $15" offers |
Why prices vary so much
Indian television in the US isn't sold as one product. Three network groups own most of what people want to watch: JioStar (Star Plus, Colors, Star Maa, Vijay, Asianet), Zee and Sony. Each sells its North American rights separately, sometimes to Sling, sometimes to DISH or Comcast, sometimes only to its own app.
So you're really choosing between three ways of paying:
- A streaming bundle (Sling, YuppTV). No contract, no box, $10 to $30 a month.
- A cable or satellite add-on (DISH, Xfinity, Verizon Fios). More live channels in one guide, but you pay for an English-language base package first, which usually costs more than the Hindi pack itself.
- Apps by network (ZEE5, SonyLIV) plus Willow for cricket. Cheap individually, but you need two or three.
The live/on-demand split matters more than people expect. Several cheaper packs are mostly on-demand libraries with a few live feeds. If your parents want to watch a serial the morning after it airs, that's fine. If they want the channel running live in the background, check the live list specifically.
Streaming-only subscriptions
Sling's Desi packs are the most common licensed route and the easiest to try, because they're monthly and don't need Sling Orange or Blue. Sling's 2025 pages list two current anchors:
- Desi Binge Plus, $15 a month (with a $10 first-month offer in 2025): SonyLIV, Hotstar Specials, Star India On Demand, MX One and Willow HD. It's largely an on-demand bundle, which is why it's cheap. Sling has also sold it at $99 a year in past promotions.
- Dakshin Flex, $10 a month: live South Indian channels including Vijay TV, Star Maa, Asianet and Simply South, plus Star on-demand content and Willow.
Sling has also sold a fuller Hindi live pack (Star Plus, Sony Entertainment, Aapka Colors, Star Bharat, Willow, Hotstar Specials, SonyLIV) at $30 a month and a Dakshin Mega pack with Sun TV, Gemini and Colors Kannada at $25, according to a 2023 Sling listing. Pack names and contents get reshuffled when rights renew, so read the current lineup page rather than any review, including this one.
YuppTV, based in Atlanta and Hyderabad, is the other big licensed streaming option. It lists 300-plus channels across 15 languages and has a public partnership with Prasar Bharati, India's public broadcaster. Its strength is regional coverage with catch-up. Packages are priced by language and size, so compare the exact pack for your language rather than a headline "from" price.
Cable and satellite Hindi packs
If you already pay for cable or satellite, an add-on can be the simplest way to get more live channels into one familiar guide. It's rarely the cheapest.
| Provider | Pack | Price | Example channels |
|---|---|---|---|
| DISH | Hindi Mega | $54.99/mo | Zee TV HD, SET HD, SET Max, Aapka Colors HD, Aaj Tak, NDTV 24x7, Times Now, Willow |
| DISH | Hindi Sony & Zee TV | $24.99/mo | Two flagship channels only |
| Xfinity | Hindi 2 Pack | $24.99/mo | Zee TV HD, SET HD |
| Xfinity | Hindi Plus Pack | $39.99/mo | Adds TV Asia HD and Willow on demand |
| DIRECTV | None listed | n/a | Its international page lists no South Asian packs |
DISH also sells Hindi Premium ($44.99), Hindi Elite ($34.99) and a Hindi Movie Pack ($19.99), per an authorised dealer listing; all require an America's Top or DISHLatino base package. Xfinity sells Zee TV HD, SET HD and ABP News individually at $14.99 each on top of an X1 TV package.
Notice what's missing from the Xfinity list: Star Plus and Colors. That pattern, where a provider has Zee and Sony but not Star, or the reverse, is the single most common reason people end up with two subscriptions.
Broadcaster apps and cricket
ZEE5 sells a US subscription (an annual plan is sold as a $59.99 gift card on Amazon) and its US app lists live TV channels alongside Zee serials, films and originals in more than a dozen languages. For a Zee-heavy household it can replace a live pack entirely.
SonyLIV is available in the US on its own and comes bundled in Sling's Desi Binge Plus, which is usually the cheaper way to get it if you'd use Willow too.
Star content is the awkward one. Hotstar's US service closed on 30 November 2021 and its library moved to Hulu. JioHotstar, created by the February 2025 merger with JioCinema, isn't offered in the US. Today Star serials reach US viewers mainly through Sling's Star packs and Hotstar Specials, and some titles on Hulu.
Willow is $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year direct and is the backbone of US cricket coverage. It's also included in Sling's Desi Binge Plus and Dakshin packs, and in DISH's Hindi Mega pack. Don't pay for it twice. Our cricket in the USA guide covers which tournaments it carries.
Three combinations that cover most homes
Hindi serials and cricket, tight budget: about $15 a month. Sling Desi Binge Plus alone. You get SonyLIV, Star on-demand and Willow. Add free official news streams on YouTube.
Hindi, all three networks, mostly on demand: about $20 a month. Desi Binge Plus ($15) plus ZEE5 (about $5 a month on the annual plan). This covers Star, Sony and Zee shows and cricket for well under the price of one cable add-on.
Parents who want live channels on all day: $55 and up, plus base. DISH Hindi Mega if you already have DISH, or a Sling live Hindi pack if you don't. Check that the live list includes the specific channels they ask for by name.
For a full-year budget including devices, see our live TV price guide; the broader language-by-language picture is in our Indian TV in the USA overview.
Why the $15 "all channels" plans aren't comparable
Search "IPTV subscription for Indian channels" and most of the first page is sellers advertising 14,000 to 15,000 "live channels" for $15 a month, or five years plus a MAG box for around $330 to $400. None of the pages we reviewed named a single broadcaster agreement.
They aren't cheaper versions of the services above. Sling pays JioStar and Sony for the channels it carries, which is why its Hindi pack costs what it does. A seller offering every Star, Zee, Sony and Sun channel together, plus thousands of others, for less than Sling charges for one network's library isn't paying anyone. That's why those services vanish mid-subscription, and why prepaying five years is the riskiest way to buy TV there is. Our guide to spotting an IPTV scam lists the warning signs, and this piece on what Indian IPTV sellers offer covers recent enforcement.
Quick answers
What's the cheapest legal subscription for Indian channels in the US? Sling's Dakshin Flex at $10 a month for South Indian live channels, or Desi Binge Plus at $15 for Hindi on-demand plus Willow cricket, based on Sling's 2025 pricing.
Does any one service carry Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony live? Rarely. DISH's Hindi Mega pack carries Zee, Sony and Colors live but costs $54.99 plus a base package. Most homes combine two services.
Can I get JioHotstar in the US? No. Hotstar's US service closed in November 2021 and JioHotstar isn't offered in the US.
Does DIRECTV have Hindi channels? DIRECTV's international page lists no South Asian or Hindi packages as of October 2026.
Is Willow included in Sling's Desi packs? Sling lists Willow HD in Desi Binge Plus and Dakshin Flex, so you don't need a separate Willow subscription if you take one of those.
Do I need cable to add Hindi channels from DISH or Xfinity? Yes. DISH Hindi packs need an America's Top or DISHLatino package and Xfinity's need an X1 TV package.
Are the 15,000-channel Indian IPTV subscriptions legal? They don't disclose any licensing and carry channels that are sold elsewhere under exclusive deals, so treat them as unlicensed.
Indian channel rights in the US are renegotiated often, and pack names, contents and prices change with them. Dealer listings can lag the provider's own prices. Check each provider's current lineup before you subscribe. Checked October 2026.