The Walt Disney Company Africa has confirmed that its Disney+ service in South Africa will include the Star content hub when it launches in 2022. Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced during the company’s Q3 earnings results call on 13 August that they plan to launch in South Africa next winter — between June and August 2022.
Star features TV shows and movies aimed at adult audiences instead of the more family-oriented and franchise-based content elsewhere on Disney+.
The Star hub is populated with programming drawn from Disney subsidiaries such as FX, Freeform, Hulu, ABC Signature, 20th Television, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, and Hollywood Pictures. In the UK, this includes shows like Alias, Blackish, Bones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey’s Anatomy, Prison Break, The X-Files, 24, and cult classic Firefly.
Films on the collection include Braveheart, Cocktail, Deadpool 2, Good Morning Vietnam, Independence Day, Moulin Rouge, Planet of the Apes, Pretty Woman, White Men Can’t Jump, Romeo + Juliet, and cult classic Starship Troopers. Before the launch of Star in the UK, a Disney+ subscription was £5.99 (R125) per month.
When Star was launched in February, the price increased to £7.99 (R166). This price point would be in line with Netflix’s Premium plan for R169 per month. The Disney+ and Star catalogues for South Africa have yet to be confirmed.
However, Disney did confirm that shows which aired on its Fox channel on DStv and StarSat will be coming to Disney+ Star. The Walking Dead is one of the shows which aired on Fox. Disney announced the news after it confirmed that it would be pulling its Fox channel from broadcasters in Africa at the end of September.
Chapek said they moved the planned Eastern European launch of Disney+ from late 2021 to mid–2022 mainly to allow for an expanded footprint that will include parts of the Middle East and South Africa. Disney+ first rolled out in November 2019 and has gradually expanded to 36 countries around the world.
In less than two years, the service has grown its subscribers to 116 million, more than half that of the world’s biggest service — Netflix — which has offered streaming since 2007. It owes its popularity to the vast range of Disney movies and shows in its library, including the Star Hub.
Disney+ has become a must-have for Marvel and Star Wars fans, with hit shows like The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch, Wandavision, Falcon & The Winter Soldier, and Loki being exclusive to the platform. Star has its own original programming, including Big Sky, Helstrom, “Love, Victor”, and Solar Opposites.
Source: mybroadband
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