Disney Offers First Look at Upcoming Disney+ App, Launching in November for $6.99 Per Month [Update: Will Be Available on Apple Devices]

[4jasontv]

What? Who are you? It’s their content, they can do whatever they want with it. Don’t like it, then don’t watch their stuff. Besides, like I said, all these services provide no contract subscriptions. Nobody forced you to pay them all the time. In and out as you see fit, simple. And you can still buy their movies ala carte in iTunes etc if you want to.

Even in emerging markets where piracy is totally rampant, streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are gaining traction. The typical person are not really a pirate. They just want their entertainment to be easily accessible wherever they want it.

So what if it’s their content? It is illegal for studios to own theaters. Streaming isn’t selling dvds. They are selling tickets in our own homes. Running a streaming service is akin to opening theaters

I’m not saying they have to license it to anyone, I’m saying they shouldn’t be allowed to run their own streaming service just like they are not allowed to run their own movie theater. It’s ok if they don’t want anyone to stream it. It’s not ok if they want to stream it themselves.

 

[apolloa]

The reason Netflix is in real trouble, and likely will eventually need to be bought out to survive, is that Netflix's popularity was always based on being very cheap with no commercials. They are a one trick pony and their costs are increasing at a huge pace, but they can't raise prices at the same rate to make up for the cost increase. Amazon, Apple, Google, and to a large extent, Disney all have other revenue streams and can run their streaming services at a loss. I'm sure Netflix executives got a sick feeling in their stomachs when they saw the price Disney + was launching at. Ouch!

Smart money is to short Netflix.

Yeah right... Netflix isn’t going anywhere and will not be bought by anyone. The city said it would joe never be a success several years ago, they of course were totally wrong and didn’t understand what Netflix was doing.

 

[kazmac]

Can't see that happening. All this big push towards the service and then offer it up for purchase?

You're better off just subscribing to watch those shows then cancelling.

The catch-22 with the whole thing is they need this money to keep pumping into new show production. If you want new shows you need to pony up the cash. Works both ways
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Yeah - Disney have said this will end the Vault program. All back catalogue available all the time - no restrictions

Netflix made their shows available for purchase on iTunes and being that Disney supposedly isn’t making money on this off the bat and how they loved to release their content for sale many times, I think Disney eventually will offer these for sale.

So I will sit it out.

 

[MacDaddyPanda]

The cable vs. streaming tons of different services argument doesn't really hold up, because there's no putting the genie back in the bottle here. It's not like going back to cable gets you all the content you are getting on the various streaming services. It still lands you with a ton of channels that you likely won't use, and missing out on the content you actually want to see.

I remember being an early cord cutter and waiting/wishing for folks like HBO to finally offer a direct to customer model, but I clearly didn't think of what happens in the long run when everybody starts fragmenting their content onto service offerings.

One one hand we're losing money by having to pay way more than we did for cable, but on the other, we are actually paying for the content & service providers we choose to pay for, instead of getting a bundled package of channels that we endlessly flip through out of sheer desperation to try to find something halfway watchable.

Also, there's ways to save on some of these offerings, i.e. I have at&t cellular service, so I no longer have to pay for HBO now as it's bundled with the tier that im on for unlimited data. If you're diligent enough, there are ways to hack the system so you're not paying for everything as a standalone.

Not to mention I like having the ability to watch what I want when I want. Whereas traditional cable you're beholden to a TV Schedule. No thanks. That'd be like going back to cassettes after living with Apple Music.

 

[DJTaurus]

I don't even pirate Disney’s stuff because almost everything is unwatchable.

 

[apolloa]

Not to mention I like having the ability to watch what I want when I want. Whereas traditional cable you're beholden to a TV Schedule. No thanks. That'd be like going back to cassettes after living with Apple Music.

The other main point with subscriptions like a Netflix is total flexibility, say you only watch a few shows on Netflix, fine, pay for it whilst watching, then simply just cancel your sub, then simply reactivate it when the shows are renewed..

Try doing that with a cable or satellite provider! Ours is an 18 month contract, if was up to me I wouldn’t have it at all.

 

[ssgbryan]

The problem is, all of these companies expect consumers to subscribe to every little thing on top of all of the other subscription services that are pushed on consumers for everything in daily life nowadays. My complaint is with the general expectation that people are supposed to be okay with having a subscription and a payment plan for everything in life today. It's just getting out of hand. I hate subscriptions and I hate payment plans for phones, etc. especially.

Wage stagnation for the past 40+ years and rentier behavior by corporations is why we are here.

It is unaffordable otherwise.

 

[costeta]

I stopped pirating music years ago when I subscribed to spotify. One monthly payment for all my music needs. Watch piracy go back up again with all these services. It's going to be the early 2000's all over again

 

[EdT]

That is because Disney is temporarily licensing the content to Netflix as oppose to selling in a store. The iTunes transaction is not the same as temporal licensing rights. Once you buy off iTunes, it’s stored in your digital locker probably for your lifetime. In addition, Disney has their own digital locker now (I forgot what it’s called) that will allow you to tether those purchases to this.

If Disney removes their content from iTunes, they mind as well remove their physical boxes from all stores such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc right?

I think you might find it redundant that Disney will have multiple ways of obtaining content, but the high margins / low cost for some of these products impact very little on Disney’s overall strategy.

I think they will remove their DVD’s and BlueRays from merchants, both online and brick and mortar. Maybe not immediately, but something about people being able to buy, sell, and loan out movies without the production company making money seems to torque off every one of those companies, Disney and Netflix included. If streaming companies can make it so the only (legal) way to see a movie is to pay the streaming companies then that is probably how they want things to end up.

 

[LizKat]

Yeah....nah....it’s cheaper to make a friend who is a sucker and buys into this garbage

It's cheaper to fish up used paperbacks one at a time, read them on the train and imagine a film for free... can even make an imaginary flick adhere better to the darn book if you liked it. Leave the book on the train for the next broke student of 21st century pop culture.

 

[EdT]

Doesn’t seem too bad if you like the content. But if Netflix is anything to go by that price will only increase up and up.. as they invest more and more into original content.

Disney owns Marvel, and Fox, and Pixar, and ABC, and ESPN and Fox Sports and Star Wars and whatever Buena Vista is called now and the Muppets and the History Channel and at least 50% of A&E and FX Channel. Most of these entities have been producing original content of some type for 20 or 30 years and some for close to 100.

Disney may be using smoke and mirrors with their initial pricing but I guarantee you they know better than anybody how to make and distribute content for profit.

 

[az431]

This is getting out of control. Subscriptions for everything.

How else do you propose that streaming media be sold? By the gallon?
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Maybe this article doesn't do their announcement justice, but Disney is putting content from ALL their "channels" into this service. Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Channel, National Geographic, Pixar, Disney Studios, etc. It's quite impressive. Check out the video from their investor day webcast and I think you'll be quite impressed.

Either way - don't most families or friends share an account? 69 bucks a year split between 4 family members is practically nothing for quality content. They are aiming for 60-90 million subscribers worldwide (1/3 domestic and 2/3 international) by 2024 and I think they will overachieve those numbers.

I really wonder how Apple and their own original content will fit into this equation.

At the end of each month I send my kids a invoice.

 

[thasan]

Marvel contents should be made like FRAND patents Disney should be forced to sell them at a reasonable low price to other streamers

 

[az431]

So what if it’s their content? It is illegal for studios to own theaters. Streaming isn’t selling dvds. They are selling tickets in our own homes. Running a streaming service is akin to opening theaters

I’m not saying they have to license it to anyone, I’m saying they shouldn’t be allowed to run their own streaming service just like they are not allowed to run their own movie theater. It’s ok if they don’t want anyone to stream it. It’s not ok if they want to stream it themselves.

It’s not illegal for studios to own theaters. Viacom, Sony, IFC, and Disney, among many others, currently own theaters or have owned theaters since the 1948 Supreme Court ruling that you’re mischaracterizing.

https://elcapitantheatre.com/

 

[thasan]

Have you seen Avengers Endgame? It won’t be on Netflix or Hulu or Stars anytime in the future. Only on Disney. The next Star Wars? Disney.

Sony, Warner Brothers and maybe Dreamworks are the non Disney large North American film studios. If you plan on either skipping the theater or want to watch at home 70% of the blockbuster films coming out this year and going forward you’ll need to watch Disney.

Unless Disney does a quick 180 and starts negotiations with other streaming companies that they are in the final stages of ending contracts with.

Should be able to buy them in amazon or other streaming services. I’m not gonna pay 7 usd every month so that I can see five blockbusters and 1000s of videos of nature and wildlife in a span of 12 months.

 

[Mendota]

Cable died because of this model (pay 7-10$ per package). Now streaming services are headed in this direction? Do you want piracy? because this is how you get piracy.

I don't really get what the issue is here. Cable suffered because people were forced to pay for things they didn't watch or want. For example people who didn't care for sports were forced to help finance ESPN.

Who care how many subscriptions there are? You aren't forced to subscribe. Pick what you like. This is what so many dreamed of for years with TV.

Now at last we can subscribe to what we want. We can watch whenever we want and binge as well. Most of these complaints seem to center around the fact that companies are not giving their things away for free or cheap. Why should they? Things worth having are worth paying for. Ironic that these sort of complaints should be on a Mac forum of all places.
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And Disney is pulling that content from Netflix. So is ATT, and Comcast. Between them, that’s Disney, Fox, Warner Bros., and Universal. And to a lesser extent CBS. So that’s pretty much everything anybody wants to watch. All that’s left is Sony and Paramount, and they aren’t exactly driving the box office or TV these days. Netflix will have very little to offer aside from its own original programming, which isn’t much when it all boils down to what’s really worth watching for most subscribers. And Disney will likely end up owning 70% of Hulu, and Comcast might give up their 30% to them before it’s all over. Hulu is going nowhere.

Unfortunately Netflix is going to be in a world of hurt trying to retain subscribers as early as next year. They are tens of billions of dollars in debt, and it’s only going to get worse as they throw money at the problem. The only thing keeping them afloat now is their declining DVD rental business, and their subscriber base — which will also start declining as soon as they start losing third party content. And then they’ll be left with nothing but debt and the occasional hit program.

Meanwhile, Apple has enough money in the bank to produce top quality programs, like Netflix, and offer it as an added value for customers, along with a TV bundling service with an interface that likely will surpass anything else offered on the market. Apple has a bright future. Netflix should be very worried.

I love how so many Apple fans are predicting "doom" for Netflix. Netflix has shown that they know how to do content, and they will be just fine. How many awards have they stocked up now? Even Spielberg is jealous of the fact that now they are being nominated for Academy Awards. They do some outstanding content from very creative writers and producers. Just because most of you here like mainstream comic entertainment, doesn't speak for the whole world. Netflix hasn't needed Star Wars or Marvel.

Why do you Apple fans have to make everything a contest between Apple and everyone else? There are others in the game and Apple has yet to prove themselves in this arena. If Apple has something other than Oprah that is worth watching I'll consider subscribing. I will subscribe to Disney, but not for Marvel movies, not my thing.
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That’s what you got out of my post? I think it shows more about your character than it does mine...

To be honest that was the tone I took from your post as well. If you meant something else I would like to know what it was.

 

[EdT]

Should be able to buy them in amazon or other streaming services. I’m not gonna pay 7 usd every month so that I can see five blockbusters and 1000s of videos of nature and wildlife in a span of 12 months.

There is no law saying any content provider has to provide that content in every possible format. Disney doesn’t have to allow anyone the rights to make BluRays or DVD’s. And they don’t need to provide HBO/Stars/Encore/Hulu/Amazon/Apple the right to ever stream any of their movies, or for any service to show the movie 3 to 6 months after the theater release. Studios hate physical media. Once it’s sold to someone they can’t control what else is done with it. This goes for music as well as movies and tv shows. People can sell it and keep all the resale, or give it to someone or just loan it out to people. If the only place to see any Disney movies is Disney + then you’ll either pony up or do without. This won’t happen overnight, but I bet within 7 years it will be hard to buy any movie on a disc. ALL of the studios are getting into streaming content, and they make more money more reliably by having a site that you pay a monthly fee to use than they would make off of the handful- if that- of movies the average person buys on physical media each year. Why do you think every movie studio and every tv and sports broadcaster is setting up a streaming service, and pulling content away from general streaming companies? Why is Netflix and Apple pushing to make their own content instead of partnering with some studio? Because those studios have streaming ambitions as well.

Is this going to increase piracy? Probably. If it takes too big of a slice of profits we’ve done away with Network Neutrality and large Corporations already have the right to monitor and restrict traffic. It won’t be hard to stop streaming content that doesn’t have company permission. Or at the very least, they can make it difficult to reliably stream. They own the content. They don’t want to sell it to you physically because then you own that copy. If it resides on their servers and the contract specifies that you are borrowing the movie then you have no rights to watch the show if they don’t want you to.

“They”, in this case is ANY content provider, not just Disney. And some of those companies won’t do well, or at least not well enough. Apple should have locked in long term rights with someone before they ever released Apple TV 10 years ago. That’s what they did with music, and being a streaming service there is becoming profitable for Apple. But for shows Apple either didn’t see or couldn’t swing the same sort of deals.

 

[4jasontv]

It’s not illegal for studios to own theaters. Viacom, Sony, IFC, and Disney, among many others, currently own theaters or have owned theaters since the 1948 Supreme Court ruling that you’re mischaracterizing.

https://elcapitantheatre.com/

I stand corrected, but I still believe the channels should be separate.

 

[cmaier]

I love how there are seriously people here trying to claim that Netflix content somehow is competitive with what Disney is going to offer.

Call me when NetflixWorld opens. (I live two blocks from Netflix headquarters, so I’m all in favor of the effect of NetflixWorld on property values, btw).

 

[code-m]

I stopped pirating music years ago when I subscribed to spotify. One monthly payment for all my music needs. Watch piracy go back up again with all these services. It's going to be the early 2000's all over again

Disney like most other media companies knows that the money is in the merchandise
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I love how there are seriously people here trying to claim that Netflix content somehow is competitive with what Disney is going to offer.

Call me when NetflixWorld opens. (I live two blocks from Netflix headquarters, so I’m all in favor of the effect of NetflixWorld on property values, btw).

These people may be Netflix shareholders, not taking sides just looking at the broad picture here. Once other companies similar to Disney removes its titles from Netflix catalogue, the original content is what will need to entice current and future subscribers. Netflix will be forced to be a virtual new age movie studio to survive. How long before the traditional movie studios take a page from Disney’s book once it becomes profitable.

Disney has enough family geared content to be a solo streaming ecosystem, seems Apple and Netflix will need to provide more to compete.

 

[Abazigal]

Why do you Apple fans have to make everything a contest between Apple and everyone else? There are others in the game and Apple has yet to prove themselves in this arena. If Apple has something other than Oprah that is worth watching I'll consider subscribing. I will subscribe to Disney, but not for Marvel movies, not my thing.

It's the other way around. It's the haters who want to make everything an example of how Apple is supposedly failing, with the never-ending torrent of "Apple is doomed because it isn't doing X" posts.

Remember how people claimed that Apple Music was doomed because it could never compete with Spotify? Now, it has more paid subscribers in the US.

Two can play that game.

 

[Mac 128]

Shorting netflix would be foolish bc there are plenty of customers, like myself, who love original netflix content. Netflix is my only subscription (treat Amazon Prime Video as a bonus bc I pay for the 2 day shipping) and I would gladly pay upto $25 a month for Netflix.

Interesting you bring up Amazon -- that's more how I see what Apple is doing here, than a competitor to Disney. Apple is providing added value for its customers with a video streaming service, which just like Amazon, they are making available to non-Apple customers for a fee. Otherwise the models are very similar, third party catalogue items for purchase, both will be shut out of the studios offerings for streaming, and both will offer in app subscriptions to third party services to provide convenience. This is not a case of Apple going head-to-head against Disney -- that would be impossible really unless Apple were to buy a studio.

Yeah I don't think it's equivalent to lump Amazon Prime Video with these others. I'm paying for prime for expedited shipping and the video is a great bonus (that I use frequently).

Yup, that's how I got Amazon Prime Video -- otherwise I would have never paid for the service. And since I had it already, I now subscribe to CBS All Access through it, as the picture quality and streaming is superior to CBS' own servers and app.

I love how so many Apple fans are predicting "doom" for Netflix. Netflix has shown that they know how to do content, and they will be just fine. How many awards have they stocked up now? Even Spielberg is jealous of the fact that now they are being nominated for Academy Awards. They do some outstanding content from very creative writers and producers. Just because most of you here like mainstream comic entertainment, doesn't speak for the whole world. Netflix hasn't needed Star Wars or Marvel.

Why do you Apple fans have to make everything a contest between Apple and everyone else? There are others in the game and Apple has yet to prove themselves in this arena. If Apple has something other than Oprah that is worth watching I'll consider subscribing. I will subscribe to Disney, but not for Marvel movies, not my thing.

It's got nothing to do with being an Apple fan. I've been predicting doom for Netflix, long before Apple even hinted at launching a streaming service.

It's well know that Academy Awards do not drive audiences. Just because Netflix is "legitimized" by the industry, doesn't mean they can pay their rent, or customers will find those products compelling enough to shell out for every month, at least enough to sustain them. Netflix has to offer something more than its original catalogue of hit and miss programming, financed at a substantial deficit.

The problem with Netflix is that they have nothing else beside their original programming once the studios pull back their catalogue content for their own services. And customers will have to make a decision about whether to subscribe to Netflix, which gets more expensive by the year, and Disney, ATT, and Comcast, which will also offer a vast catalogue of programming in addition to new original content. Apple won't be competing with that, and neither will Amazon. Hulu is part of Disney, so that leaves only Netflix buried under a mountain of debt, and fast losing its primary income streams.

That's just the reality of the situation.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Uh. What comparable service that has invested billions in original content is only $2 a month?

Uh, what comparable service only offers a couple dozen shows? And you think a billion (not billions) is a lot of money to Apple?

 

[topdrawer]

I don't even pirate Disney’s stuff because almost everything is unwatchable.

it's amazing how many people enjoy it. i don't even care for pixar anymore, it has become the same thing over and over. i always hated disney being packaged in with my cable, i think i'll be fine with all of it gone from netflix at the end of the year.

 

[PickUrPoison]

If you truly believe Apple will only charge a couple $ a month for their streaming service, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in.

Read my post again. If they’re only offering a couple dozen shows, what makes you think they would price it any higher? Especially now, with Disney and their tremendous amount of high quality content at $6.99? Cook isn’t stupid, and now everyone who was complaining about Apple not pre-announcing the price knows exactly why they did that. Who knows, maybe it’ll even be a bundled freebie.

Like I said, if they also have third party content that people want to watch, they can charge more.