FOX To Close Down In The UK
Fox channel is to close in the UK after 17 years as Disney continues to withdraw from traditional television and shift its focus to Disney+ which isn't available in South Africa or the rest of Africa as yet alongside HBO Max, Discovery+ and Paramount+.
Fox will stop broadcasting on Sky and Virgin Media from June 30, with many of its titles making the jump to Star on Disney+. This will include originals such as War Of The Worlds , which is about to enter its second season, and tentpole third-party shows like The Walking Dead.
A Disney spokeswoman said: “On 30th June the FOX channel in the UK will close. Many titles will become available on Star on Disney+ and will be announced in the near future. We appreciate the support of our UK fans and can’t wait to keep sharing the best stories with you.
“Star on Disney+ serves as the home of movies and television from Disney’s creative studios, including Disney Television Studios (20th Television and ABC Signature), FX Productions and 20th Century Studios.”
Star is also available as linear channels in Latin America in place of the FOX branding of which Disney is getting rid off with markets such as Korea finding an alternate brand for FOX that is known as Channel NOW.
To avoid confusion with the Star India channels, Utsav has been the name chosen to replace the branding in Europe with more markets set to follow.
The closure of Fox follows Disney’s decision last June to take Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior off air. National Geographic continues to broadcast in the UK. Disney has also retreated from linear TV in other markets, including Asia.
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Disney To Close 18 Channels In Asia
Continuing to narrow its focus on direct-to-consumer streaming, Disney will be shuttering 18 of its linear TV channels in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong as of October 1.
This latest announcement follows on the heels of similar closures in the UK (2020) and Australia/New Zealand (2019).
Disney will continue to operate Chinese-language channels Star Chinese Channel and Star Chinese Movies, as well as factual nets National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD. But its other 18 linear channels—including all kids offerings in the region (Disney Channel and Disney Junior)—will go dark.
"As part of The Walt Disney Company's global effort to pivot towards a direct-to-consumer first model and further grow our streaming services, the company is consolidating its Media Networks business primarily in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. These efforts will help us align our resources more efficiently and effectively to current and future business needs," Disney said in a statement about shutting down its linear TV channels.
Disney+ recently launched in Indonesia and Singapore, but the SVOD hasn’t rolled out yet in all of the countries where the linear channels are closing. The platform should go live in Hong Kong later this year, but a Malaysian launch that was originally planned for Q1 2021 has been temporarily halted, and there’s no update yet on when it will resume.
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