Disney+ is bulking up its content offering in Canada and internationally with the launch of Star – a new general-entertainment tier that will be housed within the SVOD.

Going live on Feb. 23 in Canada, the Star brand will include thousands of hours of movies and television from Disney Television Studios, FX, 20th Century Studios, 20th Television, Touchstone and others, more than doubling the Disney+ catalogue.

The House of Mouse also revealed a subscription price hike as it looks to feed an enormous pipeline of upcoming shows and movies. In Canada, as of Feb. 23, the price point will increase significantly to $11.99 a month (or $119.99 annually), from $8.99 a month (or $89.99 annually).

Disney made the announcements Thursday (Dec. 10) as part of an investor day in which it revealed enormous subscriber gains: Disney+ now has 86.6 million globals subscribers, according to Disney, while it has 137 million subs across its three direct-to-consumer offerings, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+. Across those streaming platforms alone, Disney says it plans to spend between US$14-16 billion by 2024.

Exactly what Star’s launch in Canada will mean in the context of an increasingly complex landscape for programming rights is unclear. A representative for Rogers Sports & Media, which has a multi-faceted deal for various FX brands, told Playback Daily there are “no changes to FX, FXX, or FX NOW in Canada.” Meanwhile, Hulu originals – such as The Handmaid’s Tale, which is licensed by Bell Media – are not expected to be part of the Star offering in international markets. A Bell Media spokesperson said “we don’t anticipate the announcement has any implications on our current roster of Hulu programs.” (Toronto-shot The Handmaid’s Tale was yesterday renewed by Hulu for a fifth season.)

A Corus rep also said that the announcement does not have an effect on its content pipelines. “Corus and Disney have a strong partnership in which success of Disney linear services and Disney+ are not mutually exclusive. Disney’s content pipeline has expanded to create content for their OTT service while supporting their linear services with the same volume of new and unique content as in past years. Corus will continue to exclusively offer first-run premieres of the newest series, specials and Disney movies on Disney Channel, Disney JR and Disney XD in Canada, airing day and date with the U.S.”

In recent weeks, global studios and brands such as Disney, Discovery and Warner Bros. have made big moves in the direct-to-consumer space. While the effects haven’t necessarily had a direct impact on Canada yet, the streaming-first strategies of all the major players have become increasingly evident in the back half of 2020. Last week, Discovery announced it will launch an OTT service, Discovery+, in January, while Warner Bros. has opted to release its entire film slate on HBO Max in the U.S. on the same day the films open in theatres.

While licensing content still represents a large revenue generator for the U.S. studios, the recent streaming-first moves pose questions of what the programming supply for Canadian networks will look like in the years ahead. At the very least, the launch of the Star tier represents the broadening of Disney+’s programming offering in Canada, and even stiffer competition for those in the Canadian streaming space, with Disney announcing that more than 35 first-run series from its “general entertainment” studios will premiere on Star within the first year.

Elsewhere in Disney’s investor presentation, the company unveiled a raft of new titles for Disney+. Among them is Obi-Wan Kenobi, starring Ewan McGregor and with Hayden Christensen returning as Darth Vader, in addition to new franchise series Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Star Wars: Visions, Lando, The Acolyte and A Droid Story.