Star (Disney+)
 | |
| Area served | Canada, Europe, MENA, South Africa, parts of Asia-Pacific (see full list of countries) |
|---|---|
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Parent | Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | February 23, 2021 |
| Current status | Active |
Star (stylized as ST★R) is a content hub within the Disney+ 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.
Star features television and film content from the libraries of Disney subsidiaries, including FX Networks, Freeform, ABC Signature, 20th Television, 20th Television Animation, 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, Searchlight Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures.[1][2][3][4] It also features licensed non-Disney branded content through Disney Platform Distribution.
History
Background
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 1991, 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. 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.) 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 The plan superseded a previously announced international expansion of the majority-controlled American streaming service, Hulu, which has only expanded outside the United States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 (the Japanese branch would be acquired by Nippon TV in 2014.[7]).[8] 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]
Content
General content
Star includes a range of content produced or otherwise owned by Disney and its subsidiaries, including television programs produced by ABC Signature, 20th Television, 20th Television Animation, FXP, and their divisions and predecessors, as well as films from the 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, Searchlight Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, and Hollywood Pictures libraries and some films from the Miramax Films library. Much of the TV content was originally produced for Disney-owned networks and services such as ABC, FX, and Freeform. Other programs were originally commissioned by third-party networks, but have been made available on Star because Disney has retained the international distribution rights.[3]
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.[18][19][20][21] In Japan, besides Disney-owned contents, Star also provides anime series produced in the country.[22]
Exclusive content
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.[23][24][25] Disney also has local partnerships with licensors and distributes selected productions there of worldwide. Such a partnership exists, for example, with the Japanese TV broadcaster TBS.[26]
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.[27] In the United States and in Latin America, the two other markets where Disney+ is available without the Star hub, much of this programming is instead available through Hulu and Star+ respectively.[2]
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
| Launch date | Country / Territory |
|---|---|
| February 23, 2021[28][29] | Australia |
| Austria | |
| Belgium | |
| Canada | |
| Denmark | |
| Finland | |
| France | |
| Germany | |
| Iceland | |
| Ireland | |
| Italy | |
| Luxembourg | |
| Netherlands | |
| New Zealand | |
| Norway | |
| Portugal | |
| Singapore | |
| Spain | |
| Sweden | |
| Switzerland | |
| United Kingdom | |
| October 27, 2021[14] | Japan |
| November 12, 2021[30] | South Korea |
| Taiwan | |
| November 16, 2021[30] | Hong Kong |
| May 18, 2022[15] | South Africa |
| June 8, 2022[15] | Algeria |
| Bahrain | |
| Egypt | |
| Iraq | |
| Jordan | |
| Kuwait | |
| Lebanon | |
| Libya | |
| Morocco | |
| Oman | |
| Palestine | |
| Qatar | |
| Saudi Arabia | |
| Tunisia | |
| United Arab Emirates | |
| Yemen | |
| June 14, 2022[15] | Albania |
| Andorra | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Bulgaria | |
| Croatia | |
| Czech Republic | |
| Estonia | |
| Greece[a] | |
| Hungary | |
| Kosovo[c] | |
| Latvia | |
| Liechtenstein | |
| Lithuania | |
| Malta | |
| Montenegro | |
| North Macedonia | |
| Poland | |
| Romania | |
| San Marino | |
| Serbia | |
| Slovakia | |
| Slovenia | |
| Turkey[a] | |
| Vatican City | |
| June 16, 2022[15] | Israel |
| November 17, 2022[31] | Philippines |
Explanatory notes
- ^ a b c Due to the pre-existing Star Channel (Greece) and Star TV (Turkey) brands in the respective countries, the section is instead labelled "More Entertainment".
- ^ Some Star Original programs produced outside the U.S., such as Snowdrop, are branded as Disney+ Originals in the United States.
- ^ Template:Kosovo-note
References
- ^ a b Alexander, Julia (December 10, 2020). "Disney unveils Star, its Hulu replacement for international Disney Plus subscribers". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ a b "Disney will fuel international growth with Star brand and Star+ app". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ a b "R-Rated Features, MA TV Coming to Disney+ Overseas via Star Catalog". CBR. December 10, 2020. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ December 11, 2020, Samuel Roberts (December 11, 2020). "Disney Plus UK will get heaps more TV shows and movies via Star in 2021". TechRadar. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Tam, Luisa (July 27, 1993). "News buys Star TV". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
- ^ Chu, Karen (August 18, 2009). "News Corp. confirms STAR TV breakup". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 11, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (February 27, 2014). "Hulu Japan to Be Acquired by Nippon TV". Variety. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ "Disney + to raise its subscription fees, announces 'Star' international streaming service". GSMArena.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ Alexander, Julia (August 4, 2020). "Disney is launching a new Star-branded streaming service internationally". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ^ "Disney Investor Day 2020". The Walt Disney Company. December 3, 2020. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
- ^ Alexander, Julia (December 11, 2020). "Disney finally revealed the real Disney Plus". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ Smith, Chris (December 11, 2020). "Disney+ is getting its first price hike, but it's going to be totally worth it". Boy Genius Report. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2021. [dead link]
- ^ Ravindran, Manori (February 17, 2021). "Disney Lifts Lid on Star: Exclusivity and Parental Control Keys to New Tile". Variety. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
- ^ a b Frater, Patrick (September 7, 2021). "Disney Plus Sets Dates for Korea Launch, Japan Upgrade". Variety. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Spangler, Todd (March 29, 2022). "Disney Plus Sets Launch Dates, Pricing for 42 Countries in Europe, West Asia and Africa". Variety. Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
- ^ Kriek, Jarco (December 30, 2020). "Ziggo voert zenderaanpassingen door" [Ziggo implements channel adjustments]. Totaal TV (in Dutch). Veronica Uitgeverij BV. Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ Frater, Patrick (October 15, 2021). "Disney Unveils Over 20 Series and Films in Asian Local-Language Streaming Push". Variety. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
- ^ Florian Mihu (February 16, 2021). "Fais pas Ci, Fais pas Ça et Je Te Promets arrivent sur Disney+" (in French). Disneyphile. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ CTC (February 16, 2021). "Disney+ : 10 séries européennes dont 4 françaises annoncées" (in French). AlloCiné. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Keslassy, Elsa (November 26, 2020). "France Leading Charge With E.U. Directive to Get Streamers to Invest in Local Content". Variety. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
- ^ Niemeier, Timo (September 21, 2020). "Disney+ lizenziert Filmpaket von Constantin Film". DWDL. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "ディズニープラス初、国内制作アニメを4月より見放題独占配信開始 世界配信に先駆け日本での配信日を発表". Walt Disney Japan. March 22, 2020. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Palmer, Roger (July 27, 2021). "HOTSTAR SPECIALS COULD BE COMING SOON TO HULU & STAR ON DISNEY+". What's On Disney Plus. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ ""LIMBO… HASTA QUE LO DECIDA", LA NUEVA SERIE EXCLUSIVA DE STAR+, FUE SELECCIONADA EN CANNESERIES". Disney PressPack. September 22, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Ramachandran, Naman (July 27, 2021). "Disney Plus Hotstar Reveals Ambitious India Growth Plans (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Palmer, Roger (September 29, 2021). "Japanese Star Original "Tokyo MER" Coming Soon To Disney+". Retrieved October 2, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Star World". Disney+ Hotstar. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ White, Peter (December 10, 2020). "Disney To Launch General Entertainment Streaming Service Star Globally In February". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
- ^ Keane, Sean (January 28, 2021). "Disney Plus reveals full lineup of Star movies and shows". CNET. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
- ^ a b "The Walt Disney Company Celebrates Disney+ Day on November 12 to Thank Subscribers with New Content, Fan Experiences, and More (Press Release)". The Walt Disney Company. September 21, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
- ^ Afinidad-Bernardo, Deni Rose M. (October 20, 2022). "Disney+ in the Philippines: Shows, subscription fees, everything you need to know". Philippine Star. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
