Disney announces a new streaming platform called Star. Disney+ has answered one of the main questions orbiting its international distribution: what about content that is too adult to be distributed on Disney+?
Disney had already advanced last year that its Hulu platform would end up having international distribution, but finally, the entertainment giant has chosen a different path: a new platform called Star, as announced by the CEO of the company Bob Chapek. The new platform will include content from ABC, FX, Freeform, Searchlight and 20th Century Studios (the old Fox).
The countries to which this new service will arrive have not yet been announced: it will delve into the expansion plans of the different Disney platforms at the next meeting with investors. What Chapek has clarified is that unlike Hulu, Star will not include licensed content, only its own material. Taking into account the size of brands such as ABC, FX or Fox, it will undoubtedly be more than enough to present a remarkable catalog.
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Star will take advantage of the technology it has already developed for Disney. Chapek stated that “We want to imitate our successful strategy with Disney Plus using its technical platform, with content that we already own and distributing under an international brand that we already have, which is, of course, Star.” Indeed, the Star brand is not new to Disney, which internationally is even better known than Hulu, specific to the US: Star India was the name of a Hindu conglomerate that Disney came to own as part of the deal with Fox, renamed Disney’s Star India.
Streaming, the new star of Disney’s business
What form Star will take is still not completely defined. Chapek anticipates that “Hulu has no content that has been licensed internationally. That gives us the possibility of launching Star under the umbrella of Disney and reaching synergies with the platform that has already We have “, which undoubtedly opens the door for Star in some countries to arrive as an addition to Disney+, or for subscription offers common to both services.
It represents a new advance in Disney’s clear commitment to streaming services, in a year as complicated as 2020 and in which it has definitely given up on conquering theaters after announcing that ‘Mulan’ would be released on Disney+. In other words: in the announcement of its results for the first quarter of the year, Disney has spoken of losses of $ 4.7 billion, but in return, it has also spoken 60 million subscribers at Disney+ globally, and more than a hundred among all its streaming platforms. In other words, with Disney+ it has reached the minimum objective it had for its first five years in just nine months of life.
