It looks like today Disney lowkey announced the plans to move Hulu internationally next year are over. Instead, they'll be launching Disney Star which will be a Hulu-replacement abroad and feature all Disney-owned Hulu content but none of the ViacomCBS / NBC Universal / AT&T //1

This makes sense. They paid great money for the Fox deal in 2019 and the Star brand came with it. Star is internationally respected brand. Hulu is unknown. They can market as Disney's Star whereas Hulu is not referred to as Disney's Hulu. Get their $$ worth. //2

It's becoming increasingly clear by 2025 most non-Disney owned content will be gone from Hulu as Peacock, HBO Max, and CBS All Access 2.0 stock up. I think there's a 90 percent chance Hulu is rebranded in America as Star between now and 2025 when Comcast sells its 33% stake. //3

The way I see it, Disney wants their home-grown service to be the sister service to #DisneyPlus where the TV-MA and Rated R content is housed. Hulu isn't something they made. They just inherited it. Bob Iger said Hulu would move to Bamtech architecture. This could relate. //4

Honestly, I think they just have to be careful to not get into the same mess AT&T did with HBO / HBO Now / HBO Go / HBO Max. For example: Star / Hotstar is getting there. Consolidate your branding where you can. Disney+ Hotstar is a blend of AT&T / HBO and Disney+ content... //5

In India instead of #DisneyPlus they have #DisneyPlusHotstar which is built on different architecture and subject to many complaints from its subscribers. For example, they didn't get the Simpsons aspect ratio fix. It's an inferior version of Disney+, but with wider library //6

They the unique ability to watch Marvel films alongside CW Arrowverse shows... They can watch Batman and Iron Man in a marathon. They are treated like adults and allowed to watch Rated R and TV-MA content alongside Moana. Disney probably intends that to remain separate... //7

Now we have some international countries with #DisneyPlus and #DisneyStar content split. Some with #DisneyPlusHotStar (India; Indonesia launching Sept 5) and no split + added inclusion of HBO content, and then USA ft #DisneyPlus and #Hulu split + added inclusion of CBS / NBC//8

It's all a bit messy and will be very interested to see how it shakes out and cleans itself up over time. I'm guessing we'll get a lot more info at the upcoming Investors Day they alluded to where they plan to shine light on their streaming plans. Time will tell? //end thread