Disney+ streaming service: price and rollout plans revealed

[xyt]

So... is it time to go back to piracy yet?

I'm not saying I will use piracy as a result of this, amongst many other anti-consumer practices going on right now, but services like Netflix provided a perfect solution to piracy, but once again, corporate greed has ruined that with the need to squeeze out every last penny from shows/films.

The pie is only so big, and just because they all want a piece, does not mean we should have to pay more for the pie in the first place, they should all just earn less from an already bloody expensive pie.

When piracy becomes a big issue again, don't come crying to us. @netflix @amazon @disney @sky

As someone who spends his living making these TV shows for the international market, I’d enocurage you not to pirate. A lot of the shows on Netflix, Amazon, etc. are produced by small businesses (mine employs about 20 full time staff in London) who work incredibly hard. If you don’t pay for content, then those companies don’t get paid and neither do the actors, writers and crew, many of whom are not wealthy.

[philehidiot]

From my point of view this is not going to make me spend more money on another streaming service. I will just do without. I already have two AND had to go back to paying the licence fee for the BBC that I never watch. If this pattern continues I'll probably just find that the market is so fragmented that I won't bother. It'll end up so fragmented that streaming services will become almost like channels on TV but you have to pay for each one. Then someone will come along and strike a deal with each service and bundle them up for slightly less. I don't want to go full circle. Sorry Disney, you're too late to the party.

[DanceswithUnix]

Then someone will come along and strike a deal with each service and bundle them up for slightly less.

I think that is what Sky are trying to do, though once you bundle in Sky channels it becomes bundled for slightly more.

Edit: For my son it seems to be working out quite sociable though. He goes to a friend's house to watch sports, his friends come here to watch The Grand Tour.

But mostly the kids watch YouTube, so I wonder if these services are chasing a shrinking market.

[philehidiot]

I think it's telling that they didn't launch this at a theme park to fanfare and with giveaways and massive customer engagement. No, they launched it at an investment bank. They're chasing investors and not the public.

Nothing wrong with that but it comes across as a cynical business move rather than engaging with their customers. Dry old money orientated business rather than fun loving, blah blah blah.

[markzero]

I'm not a big fan of adding yet another service, but I've read elsewhere Disney will offer a bundle with Hulu, which might make it more worthwhile. On the other hand, Spotify Premium has a free Hulu deal going on right now. Whatever happens, I'd expect Disney's apps to offer downloads for offline viewing.

[Iota]

Disney has the advantage of a huge back catalog of stuff that everyone has heard of. They've certainly got more to offer than Apple currently do on that front.

That's fine if you have use for the back catalogue, such as a form of kids entertainment. However old will only carry you so far, it's the new stuff a lot of people are interested in.

[spacein_vader]

That's fine if you have use for the back catalogue, such as a form of kids entertainment. However old will only carry you so far, it's the new stuff a lot of people are interested in.

Given how many copies of things like Snow White Disney shift the old stuff still works for keeping kids entertained and it'd take a mong time for them to work through them all, especially when you add the series in too.

As for the newer stuff I'd imagine that's where Marvel comea in. Along with a seemingly never ending series of films Netflix proved spin off series for supporting characters can be successful and I'd be amazed if Disney didn't already have so. E of those in production.

I'd also assume they intend to follow the Marvel model with Star Wars, so look forward to Episode 27 and series like Vader: the college years.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

So now i have to pay for sky, amazon, netflix and now this if i want to watch a wide variety of stuff legitimately?

Its like when BT Sport became a thing and people where praising them for competition when in reality we have to pay for both Sky and BT for sports like football when i was far cheaper to just pay sky sports and be done with it.

You see i dont mind if there is multiple stream channels around but if they ALL share the same content!!

[j.o.s.h.1408]

As someone who spends his living making these TV shows for the international market, I’d enocurage you not to pirate. A lot of the shows on Netflix, Amazon, etc. are produced by small businesses (mine employs about 20 full time staff in London) who work incredibly hard. If you don’t pay for content, then those companies don’t get paid and neither do the actors, writers and crew, many of whom are not wealthy.

So can you just distribute your show across multiple subscription chanels then instead of picking one and the consumer having to pay a subscription just to watch your show?

Get your show on amazon, netflix, sky etc and whichever customer who is a member of either can go watch your show fine

[Saracen999]

So can you just distribute your show across multiple subscription chanels then instead of picking one and the consumer having to pay a subscription just to watch your show?

Get your show on amazon, netflix, sky etc and whichever customer who is a member of either can go watch your show fine

That logic works really well until you consider the respective market power of a small, 20-person production company trying to tell an Amazon or Netflix that you're selling the show to everybody - when they turn round and tell you "No exclusivity, no sale".

Oh sure, if you're sitting on the rights to the next grest thing and everybody desperately wants it, maybe you have some clout, but until then you'll get about the swme response as a small dairy farmer trying to dictate terms to a top four supermarket, who will tell you .... these are our terms, want the order or not.

Market power rulez. Unfortunately.

I'm not in the TV business but for press .... been there, done that. Many simply tell you how it's going to be, and they send you their contract, take it or leave it. More than a few times, I've left it because the terms are simply too one-sided, to the point of being outrageous.

For example, one required unlimited indemnification to cover all professional and legal fees in the event legal action was taken against them over an article. So not only do I get to pay (or insure against) my legal fees, but I risk paying for their team of top lawyers, accountants, whatever .... ovef an article I might make £100-£200 from? Put my home and everything on the line? Hell no. So I walk. But .... no sign, no work. Some muppet will sign it, quite possibly because he/she either didn't read it or didn't understand what it meant.

Market power. They just find a more gullible sap go agree it.

[Hoonigan]

As for piracy, it is no more or less the answer now than it ever was. It's still about "I want, but don't want to pay what it costs".

My point was that, only a few years ago, a whole host of amazing shows were available for £10 a month, which could then even be split between a few friends if you were clever about it, but these days, to watch all of the shows I'm interested in, I realistically need 3 subscription services. That's £25-£30 a month, and that doesn't include this latest Disney service.
All of those shows were available on Netflix to begin with.

It just annoys me that these multi billion dollar companies decide that we're the ones doing things wrong, when really, there's a LOT of room for movement on prices, if they just reduced their greed somewhat. Capitalism is all well and good until they take the pee with it, IMO.

[spacein_vader]

So now i have to pay for sky, amazon, netflix and now this if i want to watch a wide variety of stuff legitimately?

Its like when BT Sport became a thing and people where praising them for competition when in reality we have to pay for both Sky and BT for sports like football when i was far cheaper to just pay sky sports and be done with it.

You see i dont mind if there is multiple stream channels around but if they ALL share the same content!!

The big advantage streaming still has is that you don't get tied in longer than a month so in principle you can watch everything you want by subscribing to Netflix for a month, watching the show you like on there, cancelling and moving to Disney for a month etc.

In reality people want to watch it when it's just released, so won't do that.

As for football competition, that falls down because now if you want to watch "some Premier league football" it's cheaper to do so than before. The problem is nobody does that. Everyone I know who wants to watch it either wants to watch every game available (so wants BT and sky,) or wants to watch all of their teams games (which also tends to involve both broadcasters.)

The only winning move is not to play.

[peterb]

The only winning move is not to play.

I win!

I Have Amazon Prime, but only because it’s bundled with Prime delivery - and I very very rarely use that. I just don’t have enough time in the day to watch the output from broadcast or catch up from the traditional broadcasters (BBC/ITV) without subscribing to additional services.

[LondonTom]

The fact that its only going to be US based to start with is only going to encourage piracy when the rest of the world wants to watch its content.

I can't believe that will actually happen, or at least not Western/English speaking markets with a new Star Wars series at launch. They would be asking for people to pirate it.

Unless they plan to use Disney Life for shows like that for now until the full Disney + experience launches.

[Ttaskmaster]

services like Netflix provided a perfect solution to piracy

Only if you get decent enough internet, though.
Round our place, you have a choice - Watch 9 episodes of something via the Sky dish for the evening, or stream one episode into the buffer and watch that, before repeating the process next evening...

As for piracy, it is no more or less the answer now than it ever was. It's still about "I want, but don't want to pay what it costs".

Actually, it's more "You're actually asking money for this abysmal, unnecessary reboot cack?"

Seriously, why do we need a remake of the already-dire Charmed series?

[markzero]

Only if you get decent enough internet, though.
Round our place, you have a choice - Watch 9 episodes of something via the Sky dish for the evening, or stream one episode into the buffer and watch that, before repeating the process next evening...

When I'm away from decent internet for a couple of days I go to a cafe, order a drink, and download movies and shows to my Netflix and Amazon Prime apps for offline viewing. Very handy. I am starting to expect that for every service.