Disney Plus is soon to roll out a new adult-oriented tier of featured content called Star, and here's everything we know about it so far. Launched in fall 2019, Disney Plus served to unofficially kickoff the era of every major media company trying to get into the streaming business. Since Disney Plus launched, Warner Media has debuted HBO Max, NBC Universal has unveiled Peacock, and CBS All Access will soon make way for the larger Paramount Plus. Of those though, Disney Plus has easily been the most successful.
Disney Plus boasts almost 90 million subscribers after a little over one year of existence, and while it's still got a long way to go to really compete with streaming behemoth Netflix, it'll likely eventually get to that level. One of the biggest forces in entertainment, it's no surprise that a Disney streaming service has done well, with the company owning the back catalog of the Star Wars, Simpsons, and Marvel Cinematic Universe franchises, as well as its own library of hit movies and animated classics.
One thing Disney Plus has been focused on so far though is catering to a strictly family-friendly audience, not adding any of the R-rated content it acquired via the acquisition of Fox, and being very picky about what PG-13 level content is deemed appropriate. That's all about to change with Star, albeit not for every Disney Plus customer.
When Will Star Release?
Star launches as a new "channel" within Disney Plus on February 23, 2021. So far though, Star will only be available to subscribers in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Future international launches of Disney Plus will also include Star as a standard feature. Star will be available to select on the Disney Plus home screen, alongside existing channels of content like Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar. It should be noted though that a mandatory price increase is coming along with the new content, rising to £7.99 a month in the UK, $11.99 in Canada and Australia, and $12.99 in New Zealand.
How Parental Controls Work
While Disney Plus already offers basic parental control options, they aren't really a priority, as most of the content is suited for kid viewing. The launch of Star changes that though, and when subscribers first log in after its launched, they will be prompted to set age levels for every profile on their Disney Plus account. To prevent kids from getting around those blocks by using their parent's profile, a pin code can be set. It all sounds pretty intuitive.
What's Coming?
Star's full launch line-up of movies and TV shows is quite large, but some highlights of what's coming to Disney Plus include genre-defining hits like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files, hilarious sitcoms like Scrubs and Modern Family, as well as the Die Hard movie franchise, and other blockbusters like Deadpool 2 and Independence Day. All in all, Star will roughly double the content library of Disney Plus in countries it's launched in.
Why Star Isn't Available In The US
After reading about all the great content coming to Disney Plus as part of Star, many American subscribers may be quite annoyed they're not being included. The reason behind that though is the existence of Disney's other streaming service, the more adult-oriented Hulu. Hulu is only available in the U.S., and is also available as part of a bundle with Disney Plus. For U.S. viewers, Disney plans to simply keep its more risque programming on Hulu.