After 18 years of being stubbornly American, Hulu is finally coming to the UK – and it’s going to change your Disney+ experience.
This autumn, one of America’s biggest streaming brands will replace Star on Disney+ internationally, bringing Hulu to British screens in a major expansion beyond its home turf.
But this isn’t just about swapping logos. Disney’s planning something much bigger: a complete merger of its two streaming giants that could reshape how millions of people watch TV.
The catch? Most Brits have probably never heard of Hulu, despite it being a major force in American streaming since 2007.
For UK subscribers, the real question isn’t whether Disney+ can handle grown-up content – we’ve had that since Star launched in 2021. It’s whether this rebrand signals access to more shows, faster releases, or just a familiar name that Americans actually recognise.
What Actually Is Hulu?
Hulu has been a major player in the US streaming market since 2007, but it’s remained stubbornly American throughout its entire existence.
While Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, and even Disney+ itself launched globally, Hulu stayed put in the States.
Originally, Hulu was a joint venture between several major US broadcasters – including NBC, Fox, and ABC – designed to offer their TV shows online the day after they aired on traditional television.
Think of it like the original UK BritBox (which combined content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) – but for commercial networks and with a much bigger budget.
The service became particularly popular for offering current-season episodes of popular shows like Grey’s Anatomy, This Is Us, and The Handmaid’s Tale, often available just hours after they aired on regular TV.
It filled a gap that Netflix couldn’t – getting you caught up on shows that were still running, rather than waiting months or years for entire seasons to appear.
Disney gained a controlling stake in Hulu in 2019 as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox, but it wasn’t until June 2025 that Disney achieved full ownership by buying out Comcast’s remaining 33% stake.
Since then, they’ve been trying to figure out what to do with two separate streaming services – especially since Disney+ launched with a very different, family-friendly approach.
In the US, this has led to the slightly confusing situation where Disney runs two separate streaming services that occasionally compete with each other.
Disney+ gets the Marvel films and Star Wars shows, while Hulu gets things like The Bear, The Kardashians, and more adult-oriented content.
For UK viewers, this meant we got Star instead – essentially Disney’s way of bringing Hulu-style content to international Disney+ subscribers without the Hulu brand.
How Star Changed Disney+ in the UK
When Disney+ first launched in the UK back in March 2020, it was brilliant for families with children, but left many adults wondering what they were supposed to watch.
The service was packed with Disney classics, Marvel films, and Star Wars content, but if you fancied something like a proper drama series or a decent comedy, you were mostly out of luck.
That all changed in February 2021 when Star arrived. Suddenly, Disney+ wasn’t just for kids anymore – it had Grey’s Anatomy, Family Guy, Desperate Housewives, and dozens of other shows that parents might actually want to watch after the children went to bed.
Star brought over 75 TV series and more than 270 films at launch, transforming Disney+ from a family service into something that could compete properly with Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video.
Shows like The Bear and Only Murders in the Building became genuine hits, proving there was appetite for this kind of content on Disney+.
The addition of Star also meant Disney+ could finally justify charging adult prices. The monthly cost jumped from £5.99 to £7.99 when Star launched – a significant increase, but one that felt reasonable given how much extra content you were getting.
Since then, prices have continued to climb. Today, Disney+ offers three tiers: Standard with Ads at £4.99/month, Standard at £8.99/month or £89.90/year, and Premium (with 4K) at £12.99/month or £129.90/year.
That’s more than doubled from the original launch price for those wanting the premium experience.
Star has been the home for everything on Disney+ that isn’t specifically Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, or National Geographic. If it’s aimed at adults and it’s on Disney+, it’s probably lived under the Star banner.
But Disney+ hasn’t stopped there. Over the past year, the service has been pushing hard into live sports in the UK.
They secured exclusive rights to the UEFA Women’s Champions League for five seasons, and just this week we reported they’re close to nabbing Spanish LaLiga matches as well – one top match per week.
It’s a clear sign that Disney+ wants to be more than just an entertainment platform – they want to become essential viewing that people won’t cancel.
The Full Disney+ and Hulu Merger Plan
Today’s announcement from Disney’s quarterly earnings call goes much further than just changing Star’s name to Hulu. Disney is planning to completely merge Hulu into Disney+ in the US, creating what they’re calling a “single app” experience.
Currently, American Disney+ subscribers who want access to Hulu content have to pay for both services separately, or buy a bundle that includes both (plus ESPN+ for sports).
From next year, they’ll be able to get everything through one Disney+ subscription and one app.
For Disney, this makes perfect business sense. Rather than trying to convince people to subscribe to multiple services, they can offer everything under the Disney+ umbrella and charge accordingly – much like they already do in the UK.
The company also reckons this will help them make more money from advertising. Instead of having ads scattered across different services, they can offer advertisers access to Disney+ viewers, Hulu viewers, and everyone in between through one platform.
From a technology standpoint, Disney says they’re already working on improving the Disney+ app with “exciting new features and a more personalised homepage” ahead of the full merger next year.
What This Means for You
For British subscribers, the most obvious change will be visual – instead of clicking on “Star” to find grown-up content, you’ll click on “Hulu” instead.
From Disney’s perspective, having one global brand makes much more sense than maintaining different names in different countries for essentially the same content.
The bigger question is whether this rebrand comes with any actual content changes. Will we get access to more shows that were previously exclusive to Hulu in the US?
Will the UK finally get current-season episodes of popular US shows, rather than having to sometimes wait months or years?
This merger is part of Disney’s broader attempt to make its streaming business more profitable after years of spending enormous amounts on content while keeping prices low.
Now the focus has shifted to making more money from existing customers – hence the regular price increases, password sharing crackdowns, and the push to get people using one app instead of juggling multiple subscriptions.
We’ve reached out to Disney+ for clarification on what UK subscribers can expect beyond the name change, and we’ll update this article if they provide more information.
The change is expected to happen “in the fall” – which presumably means autumn for those of us who speak proper English.
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