Continuing to narrow its focus on direct-to-consumer streaming, Disney will be shuttering 18 of its linear TV channels in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong as of October 1.
This latest announcement follows on the heels of similar closures in the UK (2020) and Australia/New Zealand (2019).
Disney will continue to operate Chinese-language channels Star Chinese Channel and Star Chinese Movies, as well as factual nets National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD. But its other 18 linear channels—including all kids offerings in the region (Disney Channel and Disney Junior)—will go dark.
Disney+ recently launched in Indonesia and Singapore, but the SVOD hasn’t rolled out yet in all of the countries where the linear channels are closing. The platform should go live in Hong Kong later this year, but a Malaysian launch that was originally planned for Q1 2021 has been temporarily halted, and there’s no update yet on when it will resume.