Disney Plus Debuts
By Abb Jones
Editor-in-Chief, The Reelness
Disney Plus, the service Disney is hailing as the future of its company, debuts Tuesday in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands as the latest competitor in the TV streaming wars.
Disney Plus will debut a week later, November 19th, in Australia and New Zealand, with a launch in other countries in Western Europe next March and the rest of the world later in 2020.
For $7 a month (or a prepaid $70 a year), U.S. subscribers will have exclusive access to the library of Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Pixar films and programs. Disney Plus will also be the new home for all 30 seasons of The Simpsons, as part of Disney’s recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox. (Fox News and TV stations remain part of Fox Corporation.)
But if rewatching films you’ve already seen isn’t your thing, Disney has something for you too. Disney Plus is also launching a slate of original programming – chief among them, the big budget Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian. The series stars Pedro Pascal as a bounty-hunter and is set five years after The Return of the Jedi. Additionally, Rogue One star Diego Luna is starring in a separate Star Wars prequel series based on his film character Cassian Andor.
Time will tell whether Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus (which launched November 1st at $5/month) and next May’s HBO Max will make a dent in the market share of streaming giants Netflix and Amazon – or if there is room for all of them to co-exist. Netflix’s least expensive pricing tier starts at $9 a month.
Disney’s other streaming services – Hulu and ESPN Plus – will run on the same platform as Disney Plus, meaning subscribers can access all three with the same password. Disney plans to offer a triple-service bundle for $13 a month. Starting in March, Hulu will become the official streaming home for the FX network, which Disney also acquired as part of its acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
So will YOU be subscribing to Disney Plus? And which providers do you think stand to be the big winners and losers in the TV streaming battle? Chime in with your comments below: