Disney owned Star brand will be used for the general entertainment streamer which will be hosting content from FX, Freeform, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, and Disney Television Studios. The streamer is scheduled to launch internationally in 2021. Disney will reveal more details regarding this offering in its Investor Meeting in the following months.
The announcement came as a part of Disney’s quarterly earnings call yesterday. Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney noted Star brand awareness internationally as one of the reasons they are going with it. He also said that Star branded offering will be a fully integrated part of Disney+ in some markets and will be marketed and distributed under the Star branding.
Bob Chapek when asked about Hulu brand and why it was not used said it has no brand awareness outside of the U.S.A. and relies on content from third-party distributors which they won’t be having rights to stream overseas. Hulu currently has 35.5 million subscribers.
In other news, Disney+ Hotstar is scheduled to roll out in Indonesia on September 5th. Disney+ is slated for a rollout in the Nordics in September and Latin America in November marking its availability in nine of the top ten economies.
Ohhh.Something Very Interesting.Now We Have To See How This Will Launch In India Or They Have Some Other Plans.Will Be Interesting.
Most of the content they are referring to is already available on Disney+ Hotstar. In International markets they don’t have any platform apart from Hulu in US to host mature content. Which is why this one. My expectations are they will revamp existing Hotstar services internationally apart from US and India.
Hmm.You Are Right.But I Think They They Will Not Name It Hotstar As If That Would Be The Case Then Bob Chapek Would Have Mentioned It.May Be They Will Brand It Something Else.But Still Not Sure.Also I Think Not All ABC,Freeform Shows Are On Disney+ Hotstar.
A Thing I Wanted To Say You That MX Player Had Added A Hulu Original Named Utopia Falls (Named On It As Face Off) In Hindi.May You Ask Disney Or Hotstar Team Why They Launched An Exclusive Show On A Third-Party Streaming Service And Is Even Its Rights Are Legally Bought From Hulu.
Utopia Falls not a Disney owned show buddy! Thats the third party show Hulu just lisenced. Hulu is having many 3rd party content you can find their originals scattered across Prime, Hotstar and Netflix even Sony Liv in India. That’s the main reason Disney doesn’t want to utilise Hulu name and preferred Star over it. ABC through Disney India had distribution deals with Netflix, Prime in India once they are expried more content will be making its way to Disney+ Hotstar
Hmm.Thanks For Explaining.Means MX Player Has Officially Purchased It.Nice They Are Doing This As It Is Totally A AVOD Service.Hope They Continue To Add More Shows.
Yes, MX has been heavily investing in acquiring rights to international content and making it available for Indian audiences in the local languages. A good library of Turkish dramas dubbed in Hindi are available on the platform. MX even has an exhaustive catalog of Pakistani shows licensed from Hum TV and ARY Digital.
Hmm.Also 12 to 15 Korean Dramas In Hindi From Playflix.