Content hub within the Disney+ streaming service in some international territories
This article is about the content hub within the Disney+ streaming service. For other "Star"-branded TV and streaming services owned by Disney, see
Star TV. For the subsidiary owned by Disney and in turn The Walt Disney Company India, see
Disney Star.
February 23, 2021; 3 years ago (February 23, 2021)
Current status
Active
Star (stylized as ST★R) is a content hub within the
Disney+[a] streaming service that launched on February 23, 2021. The hub is available in a subset of countries where Disney+ is operated.[1] In
Latin America, a separate streaming service,
Star+, was launched on August 31, 2021.
The "Star" brand originated as a
Hong Kong-based satellite broadcaster, which operated under that name as an acronym of "Satellite Television Asian Region", it was founded by
Hutchison Whampoa in 1990, and had been acquired by
News Corporation in 1993.[5] After 2009, the Star brand was mainly restricted to the now separately-owned
Star China Media, as well as
Star India, which operates primarily in India, but also distributes programming internationally via services targeting viewers of Indian descent. The remainder of the Star Asia Pacific business was later brought under the
Fox International Channels division.[6]
Star India (as well as all of the now Fox Networks Group's Asia Pacific operations[b]) was then acquired by Walt Disney as part of its
acquisition of
21st Century Fox on March 20, 2019.
During an earnings call on August 5, 2020, Disney CEO
Bob Chapek announced that Disney planned to launch a new international, general entertainment service under the "Star" brand name in 2021. The plan superseded a previously announced international expansion of the majority-controlled American streaming service,
Hulu, which has only expanded outside the United States to
Japan.[c] Chapek argued that, outside of the United States, the Hulu brand is not well known while Star is much more recognizable.[9]
Launch
Disney officially announced Star and Star+ on December 10, 2020, at its Investor Day Event.[10] During the event, it was announced that Star would launch as a sixth brand tile within the Disney+ interface. Additional parental controls would be launched alongside Star's introduction. Although Star would be available at no extra cost to Disney+ subscribers, the introduction of Star would coincide with a price increase.[11] Star was launched in Canada, United Kingdom, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore on February 23, 2021, while the service was launched in Hong Kong and Taiwan later in 2021.[12] Disney promoted the launch by naming several stars in the
International Star Registry.[13]
Star+ was launched in Latin America on August 31, 2021. Star was to also launch in Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, South Africa and the
MENA Region in 2022. Star was launched in Japan and South Korea on October 27, 2021, and November 12, 2021, respectively.[14] It was indeed launched in May 2022 in South Africa and in June 2022 in various MENA and European countries.[15]
Subsequently, the European feeds of
Star Plus,
Star Bharat, and
Star Gold were rebranded as Utsav Plus, Utsav Bharat and Utsav Gold respectively on January 22, 2021, to avoid confusion with the streaming hub.[16] Disney plans to produce more Korean, Japanese, and other Asian content under Star and Disney+ in the next few years.[17]
In May 2023, Disney rolled out the Star hub for
Disney+ Hotstar subscribers in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.[18]
In March 2024, it was announced that the Star hub will be added on Disney+ in Latin America on June 26, 2024,[19] while its separate platform,
Star+, will be discontinued on July 24, 2024.[20]
In Europe, Disney+ and Star offer local content from third-party distributors in addition to local in-house and co-productions. The reason for this is a regulation that requires a certain percentage of European productions. In order to comply with this requirement, Disney has entered into a partnership with various local distributors from France and Germany, among others.[21][22][23][24] In Japan, besides Disney-owned contents, Star also provides anime series produced in the country.[25]
Many productions for which the local first release is carried out by Star are advertised and offered as Star Originals or Star Exclusives. Most of these productions come from the streaming services (such as
Hulu) and TV channels (such as
ABC,
Freeform,
FX,
ESPN, or
National Geographic) of the Walt Disney Company. Selected productions from its sister services
Star+ and
Disney+ Hotstar may come to Star,[31][32][33]Disney+ Original series and
movies that are not labeled under Disney,
Pixar,
Marvel, Star Wars or
National Geographic are also released to Star outside of the United States and Latin America but retain their Disney+ Originals status. Disney also has local partnerships with licensors and distributes selected productions worldwide. One Such partnership, for example is with the Japanese TV broadcaster
TBS.[34]
Availability
As described above, Star is available as part of the Disney+ service in many countries around the world. In countries where Disney+ is distributed as part of
Disney+ Hotstar, many of the same programs are available as part of Hotstar's general-interest content, often categorized under hubs such as Star World.[35] Regarding the three other markets where Disney+ is available without the Star hub: in the United States and in Latin America proper, much of this programming is instead available through
Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and
Star+ respectively;[2] however, in the
(Anglo-Creole) Caribbean, such programming is not yet offered.[36]
On May 3, 2023, Disney made changes to
Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, where the interface now provides the Star hub, as part of an ongoing "Hotstar X" refresh in various markets.[18]
^including
Disney+ Hotstar (applies to only Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand)
^Although, the Asia Pacific operations do operate "Star"-branded TV services to date, to varying degrees. Not to be confused with the
Japanese premium TV network of the same name, which albeit then a co-owned venture with three Japanese partners, is now a wholly separate business as the former 21st Century Fox sold its stake before the Disney acquisition completed.
^the Japanese branch would be acquired by
Nippon TV in 2014.[7][8]
^
abThe content hub isn't visible due to the pre-existing
Star Channel (Greece) and
Star TV (Turkey). Yet, some of its
original programming are available on the platform.