Just ahead of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Star India ’s video streaming platform Hotstar has launched a new and cheaper subscription pack, ‘Hotstar VIP’.The new pack will offer live sports, web originals (Hotstar Specials) and Star India’s local content at Rs 365 per year, making it cheapest among paid video OTT services.Hotstar already has an annual ‘Hotstar Premium’ subscription plan at Rs 129 a month or Rs 999 per year, similar to that of Amazon Prime. It also had a sports only pack for Rs 299 a year.Hotstar VIP will also offer Star network serials before television, at 6 am, the company said.However, the new pack will not have premium English content from the HBO , Disney, Hooq or even 21st Century Fox.“Hotstar VIP is aimed at providing users accessibility – be it with the introductory price or the ability to watch exclusive new shows in multiple regional languages. It is a value proposition built with the Indian audience at the heart of it,” said Varun Narang, Chief Product Officer, Hotstar.The launch of Hotstar VIP coincides with the release of the first Hotstar Special ‘Roar of the Lion’, a story on Chennai Super Kings ’ comeback under the leadership of MS Dhoni.This show will be followed by ‘Criminal Justice’, ‘City of Dreams’, ‘Hostages’ and more.Hotstar will also be the first online platform to allow offline, ‘pay by cash’ option. The company said this is being done as a test initially, where users can subscribe to Hotstar VIP immediately with cash to be collected from their doorstep in the next 48-72 hours.Existing subscribers of Hotstar’s Rs 299 All Annual Sports plan will automatically be upgraded to Hotstar VIP, on a complimentary basis, the company said.