iWorld
Hulu Japan and Disney+ launch new bundle plan, bringing the best of global and Japanese entertainment to consumers
Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company (Japan) Ltd. (‘Disney Japan’) and HJ Holdings, Inc. (‘HJ Holdings’) today announced the launch of a new bundle plan for Disney+ and Hulu (Japan) services, offering a breadth of global and Japanese entertainment to consumers. The new bundle will be available to consumers in Japan today.
Hulu (Japan), operated by HJ Holdings (a subsidiary of Nippon Television Network Corporation) and the SVOD platform for Nippon TV, houses on-demand viewing of popular television series from Nippon TV as well as local original content. With the new bundle, consumers can enjoy an incredible collection of branded content from Disney+, including award-winning films, animation and live-action from Disney, PIXAR, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and Star, as well as Hulu Japan’s popular domestic drama series, anime, variety shows, live music and sports.
“Since its launch, Disney+ has been delivering unparalleled storytelling and unforgettable entertainment to consumers in Japan, who continue to love our iconic characters, brands and franchises,” said Disney Japan managing director Carol Choi. “By joining forces with Hulu Japan, we will bring high quality global and local entertainment to audiences, offering more consumer choice at an attractive value. We are confident that this bundle plan will appeal to an even broader audience in Japan.”
“We are thrilled to announce this collaboration between Hulu and Disney+, which will bring the world’s best entertainment across all genres to consumers in Japan at an affordable price. This bundle will be an opportunity for Hulu Japan to evolve to an even more attractive service. We hope consumers will enjoy and take advantage of this bundled service,” said HJ Holdings president Kazuo Takaya.
This new plan is an extension of the strategic collaboration between Disney Japan and Nippon Television Holdings, Inc. (‘Nippon Television Holdings’) announced last year, which aims to leverage both companies’ respective platforms to deliver global and local entertainment to more audiences.
Nippon Television Holdings president Akira Ishizawa added, “Disney is one of the world’s leading entertainment companies, and has been a key business partner over the years, including broadcasting Disney films on Nippon TV’s Friday Roadshow. We are pleased to expand this relationship and collaborate in the SVOD field. By leveraging the creativity and brand affinity of Disney+ and Hulu Japan, we will deliver more content that consumers want to watch”.
The new bundle plan is priced at 1,490 yen per month (tax included), 25 per cent less than subscribing to each service individually.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
