Disney to Launch Star-Branded Streaming Service Internationally in 2021

Disney has announced plans to launch a new international streaming service under its Star brand name in 2021. According to The Verge, Disney CEO Bob Chapek revealed the news on a recent quarterly earnings call, in which he outlined the company's plans to expand its streaming offering by distributing content from ABC, FX, Freeform, Searchlight, and 20th Century Studios on a new international streaming platform geared towards "general entertainment," which will not license any third-party content. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/18/disney-plus-review-2019"] "In terms of the general entertainment offering internationally, we want to mirror our successful Disney Plus strategy by using our Disney Plus technical platform, bringing in content we already own and distributing it under a successful international brand that we also already own, which is, of course, Star," Chapek announced on the call. Chapek went on to explain why Disney opted to launch a new platform rather than expand Hulu to the international market. As part of his explanation, he revealed that the new streaming service will only offer Disney-owned content through its Star brand, which is an already established name overseas, unlike Hulu that has "no brand awareness outside of the US." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-movies-on-disney&captions=true"] Chapek didn't share many more details about the Star-branded platform, including which countries it will be launching in, what the pricing structure will be, or the exact release date for the service. However, more information is expected to be revealed during an upcoming investors event that will focus on the company's broader streaming plans. Disney+ recently hit another major streaming milestone, as it surpassed more than 60 million subscribers worldwide. In India, the streamer "is offered in conjunction with the existing Hotstar service," which apparently accounts for a portion of those subscribers. Disney is said to have amassed 100 million total subscribers across all of its streaming offerings, including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Plus. If you're looking for even more content to watch, check out everything coming to Disney+ in August 2020. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

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