Way back in 2021, Disney launched its new general entertainment hub called Star on Disney+ in many countries around the world, including the UK, Canada and Australia.  This general entertainment hub took its name from an established 20th Century Fox brand in Asia, with many Hulu Originals and new exclusive shows from FX and ABC getting branded to Star Originals outside the United States.

The main reason for the launch of Star internationally was that while it might have made more sense for Disney to expand its general entertainment brand, Hulu, internationally, since Comcast still owned 33% of the American streaming service and Disney couldn’t buy out Comcast’s stake in Hulu until 2024 due to an agreement made between the two companies in 2019 following Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox.

Back at the end of last year, Disney launched Hulu On Disney+ in the United States, bringing in lots of general entertainment content into Disney+. Eventually, it’s expected that Disney will merge its two streaming services, and with the recent agreement with Reliance to merge its Indian business into Star India, I’ve speculated that Disney might be getting ready to do some more consolidation of its brands, possibly rebranding Star to Hulu internationally.

In the past week, I’ve noticed that there have been some changes within Disney+ outside the United States, where many of the thumbnails for Star Originals have been updated and now include the Hulu logo. 

Now, it could just be a mistake, as we’ve seen the odd show or two in the past, such as “Only Murders In The Building”, accidentally feature a Hulu logo, only for it to be removed within a few days.  I’ve even held off on mentioning this change for a few days, in case it was just a glitch or a mistake.

Even the main banner on the Disney+ home page for the latest new series, “Interior Chinatown”, has a Hulu logo front and centre.

Here’s a list of originals that now feature the Hulu logo:

• Extraordinary
• Interior Chinatown
• The Kardashians
• Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny
• La Maquina
• Diana Von Furstenberg: Woman In Charge
• Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer
• The Orville
• How I Caught My Killer
• Freaknik
• Synduality Noir
• Life & Beth
• Perfect Wife
• Gangnam B-Side
• The Zone: Survival Mission
• Golden Spoon
• Link
• Race
• Call It Love
• Big Bet
• The Fiery Priest 2
• The First Responders 2
• The Tatami Time Machine Blues
• And many more.

Up until recently, generally, Disney didn’t use the Hulu brand internationally since it didn’t want to increase the value of the brand until it finalised its purchase of Comcast’s stake in Hulu.  A while ago, I even reported how a Hulu hub appeared in Disney+ Hotstar, only to be removed within a day or so.

Disney and Comcast have been in negotiations to finalise the valuation of Hulu to allow Disney to complete its purchase, and it’s expected that once that’s completed, we might start seeing some changes.  In the past few weeks, we’ve seen Disney now promoting Hulu On Disney+ more regularly and have spent the last year getting Disney+ subscribers in the United States used to seeing the Hulu brand within Disney+.

This is just my theory, but I suspect that if these thumbnail changes aren’t a glitch, Disney could be using a similar approach internationally, slowly launching the Hulu brand and getting people used to seeing it.  So when it eventually changes, people won’t notice as much.

With the Hulu/Comcast deal likely either being complete or close to a deal and with Star India being spin-off into a different company, it feels like this might be the start of some more consolidation for Disney.  Having a single general entertainment brand globally within Disney+ will help reduce advertising and marketing costs since Disney is currently creating different artwork and trailers for every new release with both the Hulu and Star brands.   It also makes things simpler for Disney across its whole business.

With the way that Disney+ is set up, the Star Original logo in the corner of each thumbnail and the Star logo bumper before each show could be swapped for Hulu very easily. 

As I said, these changes could simply be a glitch, and it might not come to anything, but the Disney+ platform has been going through many changes recently, and everything is pointing to an eventual shift to a more unified service. 

Do you think Hulu will replace Star on Disney+ internationally?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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