Disney Putting International Muscle Behind Star India instead of Hulu Global Launch?

hotstar.com is the home of Star India, owned by Disney

When it comes to what’s popular outside the United States as far as TV, streaming, whatever goes, we don’t know much. Therefore, if we get the facts wrong on international news, please feel free to correct in the comments.

Crossover relevance to the United States is coming, so stay with me.

Apparently, Star India is a major pay movie and TV channel abroad and is owned by Disney. Meanwhile, Hulu remains an exclusive streaming service in America.

There has been talk about expanding Hulu internationally for some time, but since Disney bought Fox and plans to buy the other part of Hulu owned by Comcast in 2024, Disney appears to be changing focus to Star India instead of Hulu abroad.

Chapek explained on the earnings call that Hulu aggregates third-party content, while the Star service will host Disney-owned content from ABC Studios, Fox TV, FX, and other such sources. Chapek also added, “And Hulu also, I must say, has no brand awareness outside of the U.S., and nor does Hulu have any content that’s been licensed to it internationally.” That shows that Disney would essentially be starting from scratch if it took Hulu outside of the U.S. Additionally, Hulu’s ad business won’t transition easily to international markets. Looking at those reasons as well as Star’s strength in India, it’s clear why Disney is elevating that brand and not Hulu.

Is Walt Disney Giving Up on Hulu?

This makes sense, but can’t help wondering: what is going to happen to Hulu? We subscribed a month ago and it’s currently one of the better streaming services out there, with a solid amount of exclusive/original content, recent popular TV shows like The Orville, Rick and Morty (also on HBO Max), documentaries, miniseries and a compelling selection of movies.

We watch Hulu more than Peacock and CBS All Access and DC Universe (in fairness, DCU doesn’t have many movies or TV shows), but not as much as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max.

What do you think will happen to Hulu? What should happen to Hulu?

4 thoughts on “Disney Putting International Muscle Behind Star India instead of Hulu Global Launch?

  1. Star was also the name of Fox channels in parts of Asia before being rebranded to Fox, the Indian and Chinese channels were the only ones that kept its original branding but the Chinese channels were also sold. I’m pretty sure that the Star service won’t have any links to Star India and is instead a replacement or supplement to overseas Fox channels that Disney owns.

    Liked by 1 person

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