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Disney+ Streaming Service To Launch In November, Priced At $6.99 Monthly (variety.com)
Disney has announced that its highly anticipated new streaming service, Disney+, will launch in the U.S. on November 12 with a price of $6.99 per month. Variety has more details: The subscription VOD service represents Disney's next major foray into the video-streaming wars. By pricing it well below Netflix, the Mouse House is betting it can rapidly drive up Disney+ customer base with a melange of content that appeals to multiple demographics, including movies and TV shows from its Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and Disney brands.
At launch, Disney+ will include 7,500 episodes, including from 25 original series; 400 library movie titles; and 100 recent theatrical films releases, according to Agnes Chu, senior VP of content, Disney+. That includes exclusive rights to all 30 seasons of "The Simpsons," which Disney obtained through the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. In year five of Disney+, the company expects to have an annual production slate of some 50 originals, Chu said. Disney+ will be an ad-free service, supported solely by subscription fees. It's going to have a wide platform footprint, spanning game consoles, smart TVs and connected streaming devices, including Roku and PlayStation 4, said Michael Paull, president of Disney Streaming Services (formerly BAMTech). "After Disney+'s initial North American launch in the fourth quarter of 2019, the service will roll out to Europe, Latin America and Asia as Disney's international rights return to the company from licensees," the report adds. Kevin Mayer, chairman of Disney's Direct-to-Customer and International business segment, also said that the company will "likely" offer a discounted bundle combining Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu.
All of Disney+'s content will be available to download for offline viewing and will be available in 4K. Some of the content subscribers will have access to includes all of the Star Wars films, 250 hours of NatGeo content, and hundreds of episodes from Disney Channel shows as well as a brand-new "Phineas and Ferb" movie.
At launch, Disney+ will include 7,500 episodes, including from 25 original series; 400 library movie titles; and 100 recent theatrical films releases, according to Agnes Chu, senior VP of content, Disney+. That includes exclusive rights to all 30 seasons of "The Simpsons," which Disney obtained through the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. In year five of Disney+, the company expects to have an annual production slate of some 50 originals, Chu said. Disney+ will be an ad-free service, supported solely by subscription fees. It's going to have a wide platform footprint, spanning game consoles, smart TVs and connected streaming devices, including Roku and PlayStation 4, said Michael Paull, president of Disney Streaming Services (formerly BAMTech). "After Disney+'s initial North American launch in the fourth quarter of 2019, the service will roll out to Europe, Latin America and Asia as Disney's international rights return to the company from licensees," the report adds. Kevin Mayer, chairman of Disney's Direct-to-Customer and International business segment, also said that the company will "likely" offer a discounted bundle combining Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu.
All of Disney+'s content will be available to download for offline viewing and will be available in 4K. Some of the content subscribers will have access to includes all of the Star Wars films, 250 hours of NatGeo content, and hundreds of episodes from Disney Channel shows as well as a brand-new "Phineas and Ferb" movie.
That's all anyone cares about.
So all episodes will no longer be on FX or FXX?
I wasn't going to do it, but if the Disney+ thing holds all the Star Wars content damn them if they didn't price it JUST low enough I will probably go for it after all.
If they have an AppleTV app.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
by Christmas $14.99 muhahahaah. Seriously, that seems like a well though out almost reasonable price.
I had exactly the same thought, how much would it go up later...
But Disney is being super smart here, because they know even though they have a lot of good stuff, they will always be a secondary subscription to something like Netflix. So they priced it just low enough that it's practical to have both.
Now the real question is, if you want 4K content is that an extra fee on that base... I say yes.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Some of the content subscribers will have access to includes all of the Star Wars films" - well this will definitely entice some folks.
It won't have the original trilogy yet. Turner holds the streaming rights until 2024.
Sorry, I have enough subscription services right now and the whole point of cancelling cable was to stop paying tons of money per month so I'll pass, as will everyone else who's not rich or unbelievably irresponsible with their money. Dead on arrival.
Disney's about going to discover that bingeing is a thing. Expect the price to sky-rocket, and/or expect them to require you to pay for 6 months in advance, or agree to a 24 month contract.
I'm planning to binge-watch the entire Disney catalog in one month for $7 once every 10-15 years.
There are at least two live action Star Wars shows in the hopper...
I agree, that is a lot of Star Wars (and Marvel) content for a not very large price.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
make Disney premium again and drop my bill $6/mo and make it an choice.
Even everyone's favorite, the Star Wars Holiday Special?
linear Disney channel is ad free and we all pay for it.
right here...
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Forget Star Wars. The Simpsons alone will draw people in numbers.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Yet another media streaming service, fragmenting the media market and forcing people on limited budgets to choose, or more often a lot of people simply picking one and then obtaining their other media through sometimes less than legal channels.
People will swap streaming services upon a regular basis, as none of them will end up with sufficient content
I agree with this statement, for a lot of services. HBO is exactly that way for me, it has some shows I like, but not enough to keep me around for more than a few months at a time...
Netflix I would argue, now has enough content existing and being developed that they can accelerate out of that orbit of churn, to full time streaming for most people.
Disney though, might have enough here to e a full-time subscribe. As mentioned elsewhere, they will have a LOT of Star Wars content including new content (the auxiliary stuff like the TV series have been much better than the movies in recent years). Then you have all the Marvel stuff. And all the Pixar stuff. And all the Disney cartoons and movies... that's a lot of mostly pretty good stuff (well OK Disney TV probably has a lot of filler but still). If you have kids (which notoriously like to watch things repeatedly) it's an instant must-have service. Even without kids if you are into one of the vectors they offer deep enough (Marvel/Star Wars) it's worthwhile and there's probably enough new stuff ongoing you'll keep it for a year...
As an aside, Amazon lucks into yearly video service users because so many people have prime. If they ever broke that charge for video out I think they'd see a huge decline in year long subscribers.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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Exactly, for HBO for example I am in during Game of Thrones, but out the rest of the year. Even the Disney service, as cheap as it is if I find I'm not watching it, I'll drop for a few months or longer while they build up content... don't have the kind of flexibility with cable.
Some seem to do just fine without Netflix as well...
Even subscribing to Netflix and Disney I'll still be way better off from a cost standpoint than getting a cable package with any significant channels.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
From TFA:
After the initial North American launch in the fourth quarter of 2019, the service will roll out to Western Europe and in Asia-Pacific regions starting in Q4 and into early 2020 and in Eastern Europe and Latin America starting at the end of 2020.
The European Commission will most likely slam them with a heavy fine if they do this. The European Union is a single entity economically speaking, and treating Western Europe and Eastern Europe separately is a huge no-no.
Valve is under pressure right now for allowing game price geotagging in the EU, together with other major game publishers. https://win.gg/news/977
As a person living in Eastern Europe (and a Star Wars fan), I am directly interested in how is this going to unfold.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
First taste is cheap, people. Just like everyone else, they'll let you get all settled in, then start jacking up the price. 'Cord cutters', indeed.
It won't be available in my region anyway, and even if it was I doubt my smart TV or Kodi box will support it, so until they fix that it'll be the Pirate Bay for me.
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The $6.99 price probably won't even stand 12 months.
Not even sure $9.99 will hold long. Their behavior in the past already shows they'd rather sell to 20% of the market at a much higher price.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Because there are 100 million of them in the market....
Good-bye
This is an underrated comment.
Now that people can binge on series, they can only pay for say a month, watch the series by several episodes a day, and put their subscription on hold till something else comes about.
Unless this service contain all of Disney's movies/shows/properties this won't be worth it.
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The idea that Disney+ could be discounted bundled with Hulu is of interest. I couldn't care less about ESPN+, but do use Hulu regularly, particularly since I get HBO through it. I'm interested in some of the Star Wars stuff and hope some more mature TV shows might be spawned showing some grittiness of the galaxy (perhaps a show just about bounty hunters, or the Hutt crime cartels). Marvel TV shows have been more miss lately than hit for me (I liked Agents of Shield when it first came out, but the last two seasons have gotten weird and off-topic in my mind). I also hope all the old Disney afternoon cartoons are on the platform (like the old Ducktails, Rescue Rangers, etc).
500 movies and 25 shows.. is this a joke? That doesn't even cover their theatrical releases, let alone direct to video, FOX assets, etc.
I'm more a fan of watching the Star Wars movies in Machete order (IV, V, II, III, VI). They show two of the episodes with "better CGI" as a flashback between episodes driven by practical effects, while not letting any movies spoil twists of other movies. Then The Phantom Menace (or The Phantom Edit if the "pet dog" annoys you) can serve as a prequel to the whole thing, a side story in the vein of The Clone Wars.
Soon there will be even more content spaced out over an additional service offering. With the other major studios to follow with their own subscriptions (if they haven't done so already). To say nothing about the inevitable price increases, which we all *know* are coming. Youtube TV announced a $10 per month bump yesterday. Netflix is going up again. At a $6.99 price point The Mouse is already under the market average. How long are they expected to leave money on the table?
I cut the cord last year and tried out three different tv alternative services along with subscriptions to Hulu, Netflix, etc. The thing that became clear very quickly is mere "browsing" for something to watch is time consuming. With the way content was fractured I found it next to impossible. I realize there are websites that allow users to search the streaming sites for specific content, but this is becoming a pain in the ass. Heaven forbid if you don't know exactly what you want to watch at that moment.
We're back on cable now. For me most of the time the tv is background noise. I'll watch the local news at night. Maybe some American Football and some basketball. Content is fungible. The price differential is increasingly negligible ($72 vs $100 in this case).
Disney+ and chill?
"Why don't you have a seat over there."
If, instead of every studio baking it's own platform with it's own fees and structure they all banded together, removed their content from Netflix as a block and had a unified platform for steaming all content (Warner, Disney, Universal, Paramount, Sony) they would put Netflix out of business within a few years. After that break it back up and do whatever, what they are doing now seems to shortsighted.
If they don't have the Christmas Special, I'm out.
"Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)
Disney has been keeping Gravity Falls unreleased for years. Will it appear on this service?
I'm going to make an uninformed guess that the majority of their consistent subs will be parents with younger children.
Kids will ask to watch the same thing over and over and over again. And over. ...and over.
So just because they watched a certain amount last month, doesn't mean they have less to watch this month.
You mean the 24/7 infomercial for the Disney empire, which get's interrupted by 15-20 minute chunks of programming?
hawk
Too bad Disney sold the rights to Miramax. It would have been nice to have Miramax films included in this.
Oh, I don't think that they'll start raising the price until they have a few more "Disney+ exclusive" shows that are only available on their new streaming platform.
Then they'll start advertising the hell out of those shows on the Disney cable TV Channels, making sure that your kids will scream their heads off until they get an account.
Worse yet, they might even offer a "free" trial over Christmas break to get your kids hooked on the new shows before the 2020 price increase.
All of Disney+'s content will be available to download for offline viewing and will be available in 4K.
Err what? Can I just sub for a month, download everything they have and unsub? What container and codec is the download in?
Movies anywhere isn't monthly service streaming platform, It's a way to view films you've purchased?