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Disney Adds Serious Heft to Its Streaming Service

Sep 7, 2017  •  Post A Comment

Disney’s upcoming streaming service just became a “must have” for many viewers, with the news this week that the company is adding its “Star Wars” titles and Marvel comic-book movies to the service.

“The Disney service will be the only place to stream those movies on demand in the U.S. as part of a monthly subscription. (So, not on Netflix.),” the AP reports.

The price of the service is still to be announced, with the service expected to roll out in late 2019 — after Disney’s deal with Netflix expires.

“Previously Disney announced the inclusion of just Disney and Pixar movies and Disney TV shows,” the AP notes. “Adding the ‘Star Wars’ and Marvel movies could make the new service appealing to teenagers and adults. The Marvel movies include the ‘Avengers’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ franchises.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies will be available, although shows from the Disney-owned ABC Network are not headed to the service, the AP notes.

One Comment

  1. Just how many of these individual and independent streaming services do the media conglomerates think consumers will be able to afford? We (meaning media consumers) can’t afford them all of them, most of them, or even many of them.

    Why do they think so many of us became cord cutters… with more joining every day. If we couldn’t afford their discounted cable/satellite channel bundles (which often broke down to a $1 or less per channel, depending on the service), what makes them think we can afford individual premium streaming services?

    The major fly in the ointment for streaming services (like Disney) is ISPs. If they aren’t brought under regulatory control and treated as the utilities they have become due to their ubiquity (poor customer service) and nearly absolute necessity, what Disney (and others) want to do will fail in the long term. Particularly if the ISPs get their way with net neutrality and give preferential treatment to (streaming) services that pay them for the privilege of providing a faster connection.

    One of the reasons (if not THE reason) Disney is going the streaming route is to cut costs and consequently keep more of their pie for themselves. The problem for Disney? If ISPs get their way, Disney will be giving up more and more of their pie over time. (Of course, over time, Disney will simply raise their prices and we will paying more for that pie.)

    Why? Because nearly two decades ago a high ranking corporate member of the telco industry stated in an industry journal that they believed they deserved a piece of any transaction between a service provider (like iTunes at the time) and a customer because they furnished the means for that transaction to take place… and it was their intention to do everything they could to see that they got “their” piece of that pie.

    As a consumer I disagree. I’m already paying them for their service and I don’t think they should get a penny more (from a third party) for a service I already pay for.

    Here’s another thing… infrastructure takes time to build out. Numerous streaming services already exist and more like Disney are being announced all the time. If ISPs are ready to make deals to give preferential connections to those services willing to pay (and they’ve repeatedly said as much), then the infrastructure already exists for them to provide those connections. Why haven’t they?

    And what about a customer like myself who lives in an area whose sole internet provider has said isn’t going to see an increase in internet speeds beyond what already exists. They aren’t going to spend millions of dollars on infrastructure that serves about six thousand. If I’m a Disney streaming service customer, Disney will be paying for a speedier connection I can’t receive.

    Oh… and there’s one more thing about how unscrupulous these corporations are. Google dark fiber.

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