Later this year, during the second quarter of 2024, Disney is planning on closing down its Star+ streaming service in Latin America, merging it into Disney+, bringing sporting programming and general entertainment from its studios such as 20th Century Studios, ABC and FX.

Back in 2021, outside of the United States and Latin America, a new sixth general entertainment hub called Star was added to Disney+, bringing shows like “Only Murders In The Building”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, and “The Bear” into Disney+.

However, in Latin America, Disney launched Star+ as a separate streaming service, a hybrid of Hulu and ESPN+, much to the disappointment of people in the region, who complained that they should have gotten the same Star hub within Disney+ as it had been done internationally.

Last month, the new FX series, “Shogun”, was released on both platforms in the region, blurring the lines between the two apps.  This is similar to how Disney has been making moves in the United States to get audiences used to more mature content on the platform.

This month, Disney has started moving some of the Star content into Disney+ in Latin America, including many of the “Planet Of The Apes” movies, and today, some more shows and films with a “Romantic” theme, have been added on to Disney+ without warning, including:

• Extraordinary
• Love, Simon
• Love, Victor
• How I Met Your Father
• Not Dead Yet
• The Shape Of Water
• New Girl

It’s also interesting that “Love, Victor”, “Extraordinary”, and “How I Met Your Father” are still being marked as Star Originals. However, there is currently no Star or Hulu hub, so they can only be found on the home page or by searching for specific items.

Disney hasn’t announced how it will transition Star+ into Disney+ in Latin America, but it looks like rather than launching a huge number of films and shows at once, they may go with a gradual roll-out of general entertainment. 

Hopefully, more details on how Disney+ and Star+ will merge will be revealed soon, but it’s clear it’s already now underway.

Disney+ is also going through a transitional phase in the United States at the moment, following the launch of Hulu On Disney+ in beta at the end of 2023, with plans to move it out of its beta program later this month. In August 2025, Disney is also launching a new full-streaming version of ESPN, which will also be available within Disney+ in the United States. All of these steps are part of Disney’s unifying its streaming efforts to make Disney+ its core platform.

What do you think of Disney+ and Star+ merging?  Let us 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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