Disney To Shut Down Most Of Its TV Channels In Southeast Asia & Hong Kong
Watching TV shows is not the same as it used to be. Instead of flicking through channels like Disney and HBO, families are binge-watching shows on streaming platforms via their personal devices.
Hence, it comes as no surprise that Disney will be shutting down 80% of its channels on Starhub as of 1 Oct 2021.
Only 4 channels under Disney will be continued
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), The Walt Disney Company announced yesterday (27 Apr) that they’ll be consolidating their networks in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
The channels that are slated to be shut down include:
- Disney Channel
- Disney Junior
- Nat Geo People
- SCM Legend
- Fox
- Fox Crime
- Fox Life
- FX
- Fox Action Movies
- Fox Family Movies
- Fox Movies
- Star Movies China
- Fox Sports
- Fox Sports 2
- Fox Sports 3
- Star Sports 1
- Star Sports 2
- Channel V
This leaves us with Star Chinese Channel, Star Chinese Movies, National Geographic Channel, and Nat Geo Wild.
Streamlining to a direct-to-consumer-first model
The move comes as the company moves towards a “direct-to-consumer-first” model with its streaming platform, Disney+.
With Disney+ already gaining a foothold in Singapore and Indonesia, the company says it will continue its rollout of the streaming service to other markets this year.
Continue watching Disney content on Disney+
Hearing the news of this move does sting a little. Gone will be the days where families would sit together in anticipation of a show’s premiere on a channel, at a specific time and date.
A generation has grown up with this form of entertainment, but alas, change is inevitable.
If you’re longing for your favourite shows, there’s still Disney+, which at the time of writing, has over 650 films and 15,000 episodes of entertainment content.
Though we mourn the loss of the TV channels, at least we can still stream shows together with the fam.
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Featured image adapted from Erik Mclean (Unsplash) & Mika Baumeister (Unsplash).
