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Disney Streaming Service Will Be Priced 'Substantially Below' Netflix at Launch

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During Disney's latest quarterly earnings call, company chairman and CEO Bob Iger mentioned that its upcoming, exclusive streaming service will have a monthly subscription cost at an amount that's "substantially below" the price of rival Netflix (via Seeking Alpha). Disney has been dropping tidbits about its upcoming 2019 streaming service over the past few weeks, but had not yet hinted at how much the service will cost subscribers.

Iger still hasn't provided the specific price point viewers can expect to pay to watch Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars films and TV shows on the unnamed service, but we now at least know Disney intends to undercut Netflix on pricing. Currently, Netflix's $9.99/month standard tier (with streaming on two screens at once) is set to begin increasing to $10.99/month for subscribers this fall and winter.

netflixdisney.jpg
A few Disney films currently on Netflix​


Of course, Netflix also has the basic $7.99/month plan (SD and only streaming on one screen at a time), so it's unclear which price point Iger may have been referring to. Iger did mention, however, that the Disney streaming service price will be reflective of the "fact that it will have substantially less volume" than Netflix when it launches. Disney sees this low price as a starting off point that will grow to "reflect the added volume" of content that is launched on the service in the future, similar to what Netflix is doing with its new $10.99/month price hike.
I can say that our plan on the Disney side is to price this substantially below where Netflix is. That is in part reflective of the fact that it will have substantially less volume. It'll have a lot of high quality because of the brands and the franchises that will be on it that we've talked about. But it'll simply launch with less volume, and the price will reflect that.

There's a gigantic potential Disney customer base out there that we're going to seek to attract with pricing that is commensurate with or that balances the quality of the brands and franchises that are in there, but also takes into account the volume. And that will give us an opportunity to grow in volume and to have the pricing over time reflect the added volume as this product ages.
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After announcing the direct-to-consumer streaming service in August, speculation spread concerning whether or not Marvel and Star Wars would be getting their own unique streaming platforms. Disney eventually confirmed those two franchises would be integrated into the main service. In the new earnings call, the company mentioned some of the content will include four to five exclusive feature films each year and multiple original TV shows. The first set of shows will be a live action series based in the Star Wars universe, a High School Musical series, and a Monsters, Inc. series.

A report last week also mentioned Disney's interest in purchasing cable and movie assets owned by 21st Century Fox, which would include Fox's 30 percent stake in Hulu. With Disney's current 30 percent stake, the company would become a majority shareholder and gain another area to expand it streaming capabilities to consumers. While the two companies are said to not currently be talking, neither has given up on the idea of making a deal and "pencils aren't down."

With the launch of the Disney service, the company will be removing all of its films and most of its TV shows from Netflix. It's still unclear when that will begin happening, but it might begin sometime in 2018, ahead of the new service's launch in 2019. Currently, subscribers to Netflix can watch Disney movies including Moana, Finding Dory, Doctor Strange, and much more, which will all disappear by 2019.

Article Link: Disney Streaming Service Will Be Priced 'Substantially Below' Netflix at Launch
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/14/disney-streaming-service-below-netflix/
shareef777

shareef777

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ArtOfWarfare said:
It'd be nice if CBS recognized how little their service offered and would price themselves substancially below Netflix.

$7/month for one channel? Get out.
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I used to pay one company (Comcast) $100 a month for all my TV services. What good does it do me when I have to pay the same $100 (probably even more) but to 10 different companies!? The notion of you being able to pick and choose is ridiculous as sports networks make it mandatory to have all providers to view all games.

This is why piracy will remain alive and well.
 
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From A Buick 8

From A Buick 8

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So far we only have Netflix, have tried a few others but not really found the need (or want). If Disney opens up its vault and all of its owned properties i may have to jump on this one.
 
Blakjack

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madKIR said:
More like under priced for what they offer now. HBO is $15 and they don't even come close in their original content now.
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Right. I’ve never been able to justify the $15 I spend on HBO. Netflix isn’t overpriced in my opinion. The amount of content they have plus the original content is impeccable. Would I like to see an 8.99 price....you bet. But paying the current price doesn’t make feel all that uncomfortable. HBO makes me want to beat myself up every month.
 
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oneMadRssn

oneMadRssn

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shareef777 said:
I used to pay one company (Comcast) $100 a month for all my TV services. What good does it do me when I have to pay the same $100 (probably even more) but to 10 different companies!? The notion of you being able to pick and choose is ridiculous as sports networks make it mandatory to have all providers to view all games.

This is why piracy will remain live and well.
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I dispute that streaming is the same as paying a cable provider in the end. If you add up all the streaming services, yes you easily get into the $100+/month territory. But the good thing about streaming is you can pick and choose, and cancel as needed.

For example, I used to have Netflix, HBO, Hulu, and MLB.tv. But baseball season is over, and I realized I rarely watched Hulu anymore, so I cancelled that about 6 months ago. MLB will resume in May or so, and I might buy one month of Hulu to binge-watch the Mindy Project over the holidays, maybe. Choices are good.

I agree with you though that exclusives and ever-rising prices will ensure that piracy is alive and well.

Before streaming got really big, I thought what would happen if instead of paying for streaming and cable I would just buy everything on iTunes. Instead of paying $60/month for cable or some bundle of streaming services, what if I set a $60/month budget on iTunes rentals and purchases? Eventually, I would amass a pretty nice collection of movies and TV shows. Some months would be under budget, some months might be over budget, but I think I would be able to stick to it.

That idea dies with exclusives though. You can't rent or buy Stranger Things on iTunes, or anywhere for that matter. Some shows are delayed release on iTunes. The idea entirely falls apart for those reasons.
 
HobeSoundDarryl

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It's also important to define "substantially." Looking at it vs. a single subscription price is one thing- thus making us view it vs. $7.99 or higher. However, it could also be corporate speak for how much less it may make on a cumulative basis, which is obvious given Netflix's long head start. "Substantially" could be pennies, nickels or dimes less on an individual basis that, when viewed on large scales (of numbers of subscribers) appears to yield "substantially" less total revenue than the same number of subscribers with a Netflix subscription.

In short, before "we" read that to mean "dirt cheap" Disney content, we probably need to look around and see how our "dirt cheap" video pricing has worked out so far. Are we really saving that much vs. the old way? What are the compromises?

Or more to the point: if CBS is getting away with All Access at $6/month, do we really envision Disney pricing much less than that? I suspect no. So if he's talking "substantially below Netflix's low number at $8 and Disney values it's content at greater than CBS's content, the price point seems likely to fall between $6 and $8. My guess, he's viewing Netflix's higher numbers- maybe the $10-to-$11/month tier for this comment and thus Disney will price between CBS's $6 and Netflix $11. My best guess? About $9-$10, holding back some desirable content to subsequently roll out some other, higher-priced tiers.

Given the Amazon ad-supported streaming news floating around, maybe Disney rolls out a version with ads for something like $5-$7/months so they can spin "much more affordable than Netflix" while also offering higher prices to eliminate the commercials? That's another way to deliver on "substantially" with the catch of ads.
 
Return Zero

Return Zero

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I'd easily pay $5-7/mo for Disney if it:

- supports 4K Dolby Vision HDR (on the new Apple TV)
- has the full library of content without additional purchase tiers
- includes new movies simultaneously with their blu-ray/purchase release
 
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macTW

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Substantially lower because of the lack of attractive content.

Not saying Disney has nothing. Netflix just has way, way more.
 
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euvnairb

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If Disney were smart, they would include everything under their umbrella in this service - including ABC and ESPN. This would expand their audience and attract more subscribers. At this point, it seems like the service is geared more towards kids, families, and Disney fans.
 
S

sinsin07

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Creek0512 said:
What are you talking about? Disney owns way more content than Netflix.
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The person you quoted (shown below in blue) mentioned content, now ownership.
dotnet said:
With a tiny fraction of Netflix' content Disney would have to be a lot cheaper.
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In main article, Disney stated:
"I can say that our plan on the Disney side is to price this substantially below where Netflix is. That is in part reflective of the fact that it will have substantially less volume."

Based on that quote it would seem Disney feels they have less content than Netflix.
 
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avanpelt

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madKIR said:
More like under priced for what they offer now. HBO is $15 and they don't even come close in their original content now.
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The best deal on HBO is to get DIRECTV Now and then add HBO for $5/month. HBO is certainly worth $5/month. That includes streaming via the HBO Go app so you have access to the HBO catalog in addition to live TV.
 
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