Disney is giving it's streaming app a pretty major facelift - and that means saying goodbye to its "Star" brand which had been used Internationally it now gets replaced by Hulu - This is all part of the company's push to try and bring everything under one roof & shift towards a single streaming service that just does it all.
Starting from 8th October, users will be seeing a completely revamped app. There's a shiny new "For You" tab that's been powered by a supposedly improved movie recommendation algorithm - plus a dedicated "Live" section for news & sports. Your first glance at the app will be met with a new navigation bar at the top highlighting Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN, and it will only show you the services that you're actually paying for.
Its all just part of the build up towards Disneys big endgame - a single fully integrated app experience that is due for release in 2026. The update is coming as part of a long-term plan to get rid of the separate Hulu app and just combine all of it's streaming services in one place.
Of course with the timing of all this - its not by accident that the redesign hits just before the price hike that is coming on the 21st of October. Disney+ with ads is going to jump by $2 to $12 a month, while the ad free Premium tier goes up by $3 to $19 a month - a bit of a familiar move - give people something new, then give the bill a bump.
By squishing all of its brands & sorting out its tech Disney is clearly getting ready to position itself as a major streaming hub that can take on the competition. The full integration has all become possible after Disney managed to buy the rest of Hulu from Comcast earlier this year & we had a good hint back in August that the standalone Hulu app was on borrowed time.
