The Walt Disney Company has confirmed that South Africa is included in the 42 countries for its upcoming expanded launch of Disney+.
The expansion will see Disney+ become available in 42 countries and 11 territories “this winter”
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However, Disney hasn’t given a more precise launch date. The winter window means that the service will likely launch between June and August 2022.
This follows news earlier last year about the planned launch for South Africa.
The plans were revealed in an earnings call and confirmed by a spokesperson for Disney Africa.
The streaming service’s catalogue will include series and movies from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic.
While South Africans are able to stream some Disney-owned movies on services like Google Play Movies, there is no way to stream new series such as Wandavision or The Mandalorian without using workarounds.
Marvel movies continue to release in cinemas locally, despite the lack of legal access to series which continue to expand the MCU.
This has been a source of frustration for local fans.
Where is Disney+ launching when it expands to South Africa?
The expansion will focus on countries and regions in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
Currently, only 18 countries have access to Disney+ in the EMEA region.
Disney plans the launch for northern hemisphere summer, which will be winter for South Africa.
The countries where Disney+ will expand to include:
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Bahrain
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iraq
- Israel
- Jordan
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Malta
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- North Macedonia
- Oman
- Palestine
- Poland
- Qatar
- Romania
- San Marino
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- Vatican City
- Yemen
Several countries in Africa will receive the service, though most seem to be concentrated in North Africa.
In fact, South Africa appears to be the only Sub-Saharan country on the continent that will receive the streaming service.
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