During an earnings call overnight, Disney announced that it will replace its general entertainment streaming Star brand globally with Hulu.
In Australia, along with most international territories where Disney+ operates, Star is a brand integrated into Disney+ which offers general entertainment that is distinct from Disney’s family content. On Disney+ it operates along verticals including Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar National Geographic, ESPN, and, of course, Disney.
What is Star
The content on Star is an extensive library of movies and TV shows. Shows include titles like Desperate Housewives, King of The Hill, Arrested Development, New Girl, 24, Buffy, and The X-Files, while movies include titles like The Revenant, Grosse Point Blank, and The Martian.
Star was rolled-out to Disney+ subscribers outside the US starting in February 2021, just a year and a half after Disney+ launched. The brand is actually an acronym for Satellite Television Asian Region and began as a Hong Kong-based satellite TV provider in 1990, acquired soon after in 1993 by News Corp. Star was used in multiple asian territories, with the 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney making the brand asset available for Disney+.
Hulu as a global brand
In the coming months, Disney will switch off the Star brand and replace it with Hulu, matching the US brand.
In the US, Disney will also switch off the dedicated Hulu app, operating the subscription streaming service as an add-on within the Disney+ app. Like in international territories, Hulu will sit as a tile within Disney+ alongside the aforementioned verticals. US Hulu subscribers will pay for the service, however there is no suggestion that international Disney+ subscribers will begin paying for Star seperate from the monthly Disney+ bill.
Hulu currently operates as a freestanding streaming service in just the United States, with the brand also licensed in Japan for a streaming service run by a subsidiary of Nippon TV. The US streaming service was initially launched as a co-venture between NBC Universal and the then-Fox owner News Corp in 2007 as an online destination for next-day broadcast TV viewing. Other media companies invested in the service, with the ownership structure changing over the years. In July of this year, Disney took complete ownership of Hulu, buying out remaining co-owner Comcast in a US$9 billion deal.
The dedicated Hulu app will continue in the US into 2026, with the phase-out to be gradual across the year.
Now that Disney has full-ownership of Hulu, it is now able to roll-out the brand internationally, while also better integrating it into its US digital platforms.