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Disney+ No Longer Offering Free Trials Ahead of 'Hamilton' Premiere

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Disney+ is no longer offering seven-day free trials of the streaming service to new subscribers, reports French news site Numerama.

A Disney spokesperson suggested the ending of the free trial formed part of an initial investigation into different offers and promotions to best expand the service's user base.

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"We continue to test and evaluate different marketing, offers and promotions to grow Disney Plus," the company said in a statement. "The service was set at an attractive price-to-value proposition that we believe delivers a compelling entertainment offering on its own."
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It's not known exactly when Disney stopped offering the trial, but the decision comes ahead of the hotly anticipated July 3 premiere of "Hamilton," a movie based on Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit Broadway musical. Disney reportedly paid $75 million for worldwide rights to the movie, which will air over a year ahead of its original planned theatrical release.

Going forward, anyone wanting to watch "Hamilton" next month will have to pay for at least one month of Disney Plus, priced at $6.99, but that's unlikely to concern Disney.

The streaming service has amassed at least 50 million subscribers since its launch last November and has a significant edge over ‌‌Apple's rival TV‌‌+ service, thanks to an established catalog of content that includes many popular Star Wars and Marvel franchises.

For example, "The Mandalorian," the key show Disney+ premiered with, received more attention than any of ‌‌Apple TV‌‌+'s launch shows, including "The Morning Show," "Dickinson," "See," and "For All Mankind." In a bid to rival that interest, Apple is reportedly in the process of purchasing older movies and shows for Apple TV+ to build a back catalog of content.

Apple has not released subscriber numbers Apple TV+, which costs $4.99 a month, so there's no direct comparison to Disney+. Since September though, Apple has been providing a free year of service to anyone who purchases a new Apple device, so it will take at least a year before Apple has large numbers of paying subscribers.

Article Link: Disney+ No Longer Offering Free Trials Ahead of 'Hamilton' Premiere
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/20/disney-plus-ends-7-day-free-trials/
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I think the only service Apple is successful with is Music — because it builds onto iTunes — which in turns in something where Apple really put its heart into. Music (or iTunes) is may also be the only that could potentially survive outside of Apple’s ecosystem, it’s certainly got enough to offer.

Everything else - meh. Mediocre quality where Apple will never excel with those whose primary job it is to provide that service.

Apple’s been trying to get into the magazine business since the release of the iPad and it all failed. The Daily, Newsstand just two examples of that. Their heart isn’t into this. iTunes and iPod were created because Steve loved music... when you hear him talk on past keynotes you realise that.
 
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Skika said:
these comments still exist?
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I personally thought that Steve Jobs through PIXAR would have leveraged the Apple profits to buy Disney and create a completely different platform than we have today. That's not something in Tim Cook's wheelhouse. Jobs always said that his interest in TV was a hobby, but all the time running PIXAR too. So I think things would have been far different if Jobs was still running the show. My 2 cents.
 
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Mayanja said:
iTunes and iPod were created because Steve loved music... when you hear him talk on past keynotes you realise that.
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That’s exactly the problem with Apple without Steve. Everything Steve did was because he was passionate about it. Not because he wanted to compete with someone or make a quick buck. Tim’s Apple just go for profit and market share. Everything else is secondary.
 
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Comparing to Disney+ is pointless. A significant part of the attraction with Disney is the gigantic back catalog of "greatest hits" for Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. A more apt comparison would be to the first year of Netflix originals or the first year of Amazon originals. Neither of those companies released numbers either.
 
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Not surprised, all about the almighty dollar at Disney. 🥴

I dropped D+ for a few reasons. Yes, The Mandalorian was good fun, but there’s only so much content I wanted to see anyway. The original shows I am interested in won’t be launched until late 2021 or 2022 [if that], so I will wait until then.
 
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I get it free through VZW for a year. I don’t see keeping it after.

You can only watch so many Star Wars movies...
 
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Do you think that Apple will keep offering TV+ for one year free with a new mac/phone/tablet purchase forever? If so I'll keep watching it because I buy at least one apple device per year anyway. But as it stands today I would not pay for it.
 
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And why did Disney+ do free trials anyway to begin with? They may not know it, but they will turn more users away instead of doing the opposite..

The whole point is "try before you buy" .. not anymore. Luckily i'm an existing one, so i got in under the raider :) People would see this as "i have to pay *now*??"..
 
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It’s has very little content compared to Apple’s and Netflix just leaves them all fat far behind.

the streaming service offers about two new films and a series and that’s it everything else people have seen and have copies of them films so no point in it perhaps another 2 years it may build up its catalog but still got a long way to go
 
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I’m subscribed to 6ish services. Disney+ is one of my least used, but I do find myself watching something at least once a month so I keep it. ATV+, HBO, and Netflix are the three that get used every week.
 
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iBug2 said:
Do you think that Apple will keep offering TV+ for one year free with a new mac/phone/tablet purchase forever? If so I'll keep watching it because I buy at least one apple device per year anyway. But as it stands today I would not pay for it.
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Yes, but the really question is are they really?, after all could it just be included in the price of a new Mac,iPhone etc...
 
With Broadway dark until at least the fall, this was a coup for both Disney and Miranda. It would be interesting to know if Hamilton brings more subscribers to Disney. Even if viewers pay just for a month's subscription to see Hamilton and then drop it, it would be cheaper than seeing Hamilton in a movie theater (and a pittance compared with Broadway).

BTW, the Hamilton movie is not "based on" the Broadway show, it is the Broadway show which was filmed using multiple cameras.
 
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BaltimoreMediaBlog said:
If Steve Jobs were still alive, Disney/Pixar would not be competing with Apple.

This is just another one of those Tim Cook bean counter moments.

Just saying.
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OMG, another gratuitous Tim Cook burn. So original.
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Lepton said:
Remember the last time Apple spread itself too thin? It’s doing it again. Do a very few things very very well.
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Apple is doing just fine. As markets for the traditional few things have become saturated and almost commoditized, Apple's foresight has fortunately permitted exploring and thriving in new markets.
 
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