Star Premium (formerly known as Fox+ and Fox Premium) was a multiplex suite of premium Latin American subscription television channels owned by The Walt Disney Company Latin America. The network competed with HBO Latin America and its programming consisted mostly of non-dubbed movies and series with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.
 | |
| Broadcast area | Latin America |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia (programming/playout) |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English with subtitles in Spanish and Portuguese |
| Picture format | 480p (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
| Launched | Latin America: June 1, 1997 Brazil: February 13, 2016 |
| Closed | Latin America:February 1, 2022 Brazil: March 31, 2022 |
| Former names | Moviecity (1997–2014) Fox+ (2014–2016) Fox+ Premium (2016–2017) Fox Premium (2017–2021) |
The network ceased broadcasting on February 1, 2022, in Spanish-speaking Latin America and on March 31, 2022, in Brazil with content being available on Star+ streaming service launched by Disney in the region.
History
editThe network was launched in Latin America, excluding Brazil, on June 1, 1997, by LAPTV, a joint-venture between Universal Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Fox Entertainment Group and Paramount Pictures. In 2013 LAPTV was integrated into Fox International Channels Latin America and the channel package was renamed the following year as Fox+ and later as Fox Premium. The suite was renamed Star Premium on February 22, 2021,[1] as Disney de-emphasized use of the Fox brand.[2]
In 2012, the channels were rebranded and aligned under Moviecity brand name.
- MovieCity (founded in 1997), became MovieCity Premieres
- CityMix (1997), became MovieCity Hollywood
- CityStars (2004), became MovieCity Classics
- CityVibe (2007), became MovieCity Action
- CityFamily (2009), became MovieCity Family
- CityMundo (2011), became MovieCity Mundo
The first five channels also were launched in high definition in 2012, along with video on demand and Internet streaming being added, though they lost Universal Pictures films after HBO gained the rights to their films. Fox Latin America purchased the CineCanal and MovieCity networks in 2009. LAPTV itself was integrated into FLA itself in 2013.
In 2014, Fox International Channels Latin America announced the re-branding of the MovieCity multiplex as Fox+, along with the streaming service Fox Play+.[3] Another network, Fox Comedy, was also established.
The network was launched in Brazil in February 2016 with 2 channels, along with rebrand of MovieCity as Fox 1 and MovieCity Action as Fox Action. The network became simply Fox Premium on March 11, 2017, with Fox 1 again rebranded to Fox Premium Series.
On November 27, 2020, Disney announced that they would rebrand the Fox branded channels in Latin America to Star on February 22, 2021, as it pushed the Star branding from regional Asian use to worldwide outside of North America.[4] Though the rebranding of these networks would be short-lived, it saved Disney brand licensing fees to Fox Corporation for the continued use of the Fox trademark on active television networks.
With the changes made by Disney of the closure of 100 networks worldwide, including Latin America, in addition to the launch of Star+ in the region that took place on August 31, 2021, the channels were discontinued on January 31, 2022, as well as Fox Sports in South America and several other networks at the end of March in the region.[5][6]
Channels
editSpanish-speaking Latin America & Caribbean
edit| Image | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Star Hits | First-run movies and Hollywood films |
|
Star Series | First-run series and new episodes for acclaimed series |
|
Star Action | Action films, ring sports pay-per-view events, and select Formula 1 races |
|
Star Cinema | Independent movies and Latin American and European films |
|
Star Classics | Classic movies |
|
Star Comedy | Comedy movies |
|
Star Fun | Movies rated G or PG |
Brazil
edit- Star Hits (formerly Fox 1 & Fox Premium 1)
- Star Hits 2 (formerly Fox Action & Fox Premium 2)
References
edit- ^ ""Star" será la nueva marca que define las propuestas de entretenimiento general de The Walt Disney Company en América Latina". Disney LA PressPack (in Spanish). December 17, 2020. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ "Todos nuestros canales arrancan el lunes 22 conservando sus contenidos y posiciones en las grillas" (in Spanish). February 17, 2021. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ "Fox lanza Fox+ el 3 de Noviembre". Prensario Internacional (in Spanish). September 22, 2014. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ "Disney Renaming Fox Channels in Latin America to Star | What's on Disney Plus". November 27, 2020. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
- ^ "Disney anuncia el fin de los canales Star Premium para el 31 de Enero de 2022". Pisapapeles (in Spanish). September 23, 2021. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
- ^ What's on Disney Plus: Disney To Close Star Premium Channels Across Latin America Archived October 27, 2021, at the Wayback Machine September 25, 2021.