Already in 2021, Disney launched its new general entertainment center called Star on Disney+ in many countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, 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 branded as Star Originals outside the US.

The main reason for launching Star internationally was that 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 was unable to buy out Comcast’s due to an agreement between the two Company in 2019 following Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox, its stake in Hulu will remain in place until 2024.

Disney launched Hulu On Disney+ in the United States at the end of last year, bringing a lot of general entertainment content to Disney+. At some point, Disney is expected to merge its two streaming services, and given its recent agreement with Reliance to merge its Indian operations into Star India, I have speculated that Disney may be looking at further consolidation of its brands and possibly rebranding prepared star to Hulu internationally.

Over the past week I’ve noticed that there have been some changes to Disney+ outside of the US, where many of the thumbnails for Star Originals have been updated to now include the Hulu logo.

Now, it could simply be a mistake, as we’ve seen one or two shows in the past like Only Murders In The Building that accidentally included a Hulu logo, but it was removed within a few days. I even didn’t mention this change for a few days in case it was just a glitch or bug.

Even the main banner on the Disney+ homepage for the latest new series, Interior Chinatown, has a Hulu logo front and center.

Here is a list of the originals that now bear the Hulu logo:

• Unusual
• Inner Chinatown
• The Kardashians
• Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny One
• La Maquina
• Diana von Fürstenberg: The woman in charge
• Mastermind: Think like a killer
• The Orville
• How I caught my murderer
• 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.

Until recently, Disney generally did not use the Hulu brand internationally because the company did not want to increase the value of the brand until its purchase of Comcast’s stake in Hulu was completed. A while ago I even reported that a Hulu hub appeared in Disney+ Hotstar, but it was removed within a day or so.

Disney and Comcast are in negotiations to complete the valuation of Hulu so that Disney can complete the purchase, and it is expected that there will be some changes once the process is complete. In recent weeks, we’ve seen Disney begin promoting Hulu on Disney+ more regularly, and we’ve spent the last year getting Disney+ subscribers in the United States accustomed to seeing the Hulu brand on Disney+.

This is just my theory, but I suspect that if these thumbnail changes aren’t a mistake, Disney could take a similar approach internationally and slowly roll out the Hulu brand and get people used to watching it. So when it eventually changes, people won’t notice it as much.

With the Hulu/Comcast deal likely either completed or nearing completion and Star India being spun off into another company, this appears to be the start of further consolidation for Disney. Having a single global entertainment brand within Disney+ will help reduce advertising and marketing costs, as Disney currently creates different graphics and trailers for each new Hulu and Star branded release. It also simplifies work for Disney across the company.

Because of the way Disney+ is set up, the original Star logo in the corner of each thumbnail and the Star logo bumper before each broadcast could very easily be swapped out for Hulu.

As I said, these changes could simply be a glitch and it could lead to nothing, but the Disney+ platform has undergone a lot of changes recently and everything points to a possible move 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 childhood and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney parks around the world and has a huge collection of Disney films and collectibles. He is the owner of What’s On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: [email protected] Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk