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Disney Plus launching in 42 more countries this summer

The Encanto streamer is making major inroads into Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

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Dan Avery Writer
Dan is a writer on CNET's How-To team. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, NBC News, Architectural Digest and elsewhere. He is a crossword junkie and is interested in the intersection of tech and marginalized communities.
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Dan Avery
2 min read
Character Mirabel stand smiling at children in her village.

Encanto movie streaming service Disney Plus is coming to more than 40 new countries this summer. 

 Disney

Disney is bringing its streaming service Disney Plus to 42 additional countries and 11 territories, greatly expanding its subscriber base and the threat it poses to rivals like Netflix and HBO Max.

Disney Plus hit 118 million global subscribers in October 2021, compared to the approximately 222 million paid subscribers Netflix had worldwide in the fourth quarter.

HBO Max and the cable channel HBO ended 2021 with a combined 73.8 million global subscribers.

According to a press release on Wednesday, the nations joining the Magic Kingdom's streaming service are largely from the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe: 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, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

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Disney Plus hit 118 million global subscribers at the end of 2021

 Disney

Residents of Vatican City will also be able to subscribe to Disney Plus.
The territories joining the network of subscribers include Faroe Islands, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, St. Pierre and Miquelon Overseas Collective, Åland Islands, Sint Maarten, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, British Indian Ocean Territory, Gibraltar, Pitcairn Islands and St Helena.

Disney Plus' subscriber rate has stalled since its November 2019 debut, its latest animated feature, Encanto, has been a smash hit: Two million US subscribers watched the movie its first weekend on the streaming service, according to third-party aggregator Samba, and the film's Lin-Manuel Miranda-composed soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.