Disney to close down 13 pay -TV channels in Singapore starting 1 October

From 1 October this year, 13 of Disney’s pay-television channels in Singapore will no longer be available for people here, as this is part of the company’s efforts “to pivot towards a direct-to-consumer-first model and further grow (its) streaming services”.

This announcement comes two months after Disney’s streaming platform Disney+ was launched in the city-state on 23 February.

The 13 channels are Fox, Fox Crime, Fox Life, Fox Action Movies, Fox Family Movies, Fox Movies, FX, Fox Sports, Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports 3, Channel V, Nat Geo People and SCM Legend.

The Walt Disney Company told The Straits Times (ST): “Effective Oct 1, 2021, Disney will operate a streamlined television portfolio that covers Chinese language channels (Star Chinese Channel; Star Chinese Movies) and Factual Entertainment (National Geographic Channel; Nat Geo Wild).”

Singtel, which carries all the 13 affected channels, revealed that it is currently in the talks with Disney to understand this in detail and assess the potential impact.

On the other hand, StarHub, which carries five of the effected channels – namely Fox Sports, Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports 3, SCM Legend and Nat Geo People – said: “There is minimal impact on our customers, who are able to continue watching films, series and documentaries through Disney+.”

It went on to note that more details on this will be provided to customers closer to 1 October.

As a whole, Disney is shutting down 18 channels in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong from 1 October. The remaining five channels that are not carried in Singapore are Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Star Movies China, Start Sports 1 and Star Sports 2.