DISNEY+ :

FOUNDED: 12 November 2019

PRESIDENT: Sunil Rayan

OWNER: Star India

REVENUE : $1.7 billion (2020)

USERS: 73.3 million subscribers

Disney+ (pronounced Disney Plus) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced by The Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Television, with dedicated content hubs for Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and the Star brand for select international markets outside the United States. Original films and television series are also distributed on Disney+. In the United States, Disney+ sits alongside Hulu and ESPN+ as Disney’s three primary streaming platforms for the US market.

Disney+ relies on technology developed by Disney Streaming Services, which was originally established as BAMTech in 2015 when it was spun off from MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM). Disney increased its ownership share of BAMTech to a controlling stake in 2017, and subsequently transferred ownership to DTCI as part of a corporate restructuring in anticipation of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. With BAMTech helping to launch ESPN+ in early 2018, and Disney’s streaming distribution deal with Netflix ending in 2019, Disney took the opportunity to use technologies being developed for ESPN+ to establish a Disney-branded streaming service that would feature its content. Production of films and television shows for exclusive release on the platform began in late 2017.

Some of the Amazing series such as The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Star Wars can be watched on Disney+ Hotstar.

Disney+ was launched on November 12, 2019, in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, and expanded to Australia, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico a week later. It became available in select European countries in March 2020 and in India in April through Star India’s Hotstar streaming service, which was rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar. Additional European countries received the service in September 2020, with the service expanding to Latin America in November 2020. Upon launch, it was met with positive reception of its content library, but was criticized for technical problems. Alterations made to films and television shows also attracted media attention. Ten million users had subscribed to Disney+ by the end of its first day of operation. The service had 103 million global subscribers as of April 2021.