Just a couple of months ago, Reliance Jio didn’t offer any bundled OTT subscriptions to its users. However, the telco recently started offering an annual Amazon Prime subscription to JioFiber users, and a Disney+ Hotstar VIP membership to Jio prepaid users under select plans.
Now, it appears that Jio might soon bring the Netflix app to its JioFiber set-top boxes, and a bundled Netflix subscription might also be on the cards. According to a report by OnlyTech, JioFiber is rolling out a new firmware update to its set-top boxes with Netflix-specific settings, which will let the OTT platform identify the device and associate it with a Netflix account.
JioFiber set-top boxes to get Netflix support soon
JioFiber users might soon be able to access Netflix from their set-top boxes
The report from OnlyTech comes courtesy of a couple of users on its forum, who have shared images of the new settings on their set-top boxes. Jio is rolling out a new update to the older JHS C200 V1 set-top box, while the latest set-top box model JHSD200 got the same update a month back.
This update brings support for the Netflix ESN and HDCP to these set-top boxes. Notably, ESN or Electronic Serial Number is the way Netflix identifies a particular device and associates a Netflix account with it. The ESN is usually assigned by the device manufacturer.
Additionally, HDCP stands for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, which ensures that the digital copyrighted content is protected while it travels from the set-top box to the TV. Support for HDCP is required by Netflix to stream content from a device connected to your TV.
The inclusion of these two features indicates that Jio will soon add the Netflix app to its set-top boxes, and users will be able to stream Netflix content on their TVs. According to the source, a community member and JioFiber user has contacted a company executive and was told that Netflix is likely to be added to Jio set-top boxes by this month-end.
The report also mentions that Jio is reportedly in talks with Netflix to offer a bundled subscription, which is likely to come with the JioFiber Gold plan and above.