• The new WDWMAGIC iOS app is here!
    Stay up to date with the latest Disney news, photos, and discussions right from your iPhone. The app is free to download and gives you quick access to news articles, forums, photo galleries, park hours, weather and Lightning Lane pricing. Learn More
  • Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
    Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.

Disney's Streaming Services: Disney+ (and Hulu, ESPN+, Star, & hotstar)

MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Original Poster
www.hollywoodreporter.com

Disney+ and CJ ENM’s TVING Launch Landmark Streaming Partnership in Korea

The new collaboration — Disney’s first with a local OTT service in Korea — follows the company’s recent deal bringing TVING dramas to Disney+ in Japan.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Disney+ Scores Multiyear Deal to Stream NBA Games in the Basketball-Mad Philippines

The agreement brings the NBA’s most popular programming to Disney+ subscribers in one of the league’s most passionate markets.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
E

easyrowrdw

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
Disney+

Pricing
  • $7/mo ad free ($70 for the year, which is $5.83/mo)
  • will be "likely bundled" with a price discount with Hulu and/or ESPN+, but no pricing announced yet (contracts with Hulu's partners needs to be ironed out)
Click to expand...
I clicked on this thread by accident and was really taken aback by the original price. That $7/mo in November 2018 would be a bit over $9 today. The $70 would be a little over $90. Current prices: $18.99/month or $189.99/year. (A plan with ads is $11.99, but ads.)

We finally canceled our subscription. I still think it’s the best service for families but the price is just too high. Maybe they’ll have a Black Friday sale. I dunno
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Original Poster
1763691105826.png



www.hollywoodreporter.com

Studios Are Spending Big Again — Just Not On Hollywood

Disney and Paramount are opening their wallets for 2026, but it’s sports and international content that may see the money.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Original Poster
BrianLo said:
I misjudged the size of Comcast’s media arm. Where is it spending all this content money? Do they spend way more on sports than ESPN?
Click to expand...
Universal Movie Studios and TV
NBC TV
Illumination
Dreamworks
Telemundo
Bravo
all the Versant channels to be split off in 2026
Sports and Winter Olympics
*a lot* in Spanish
International content for Peacock

But yes, it does seem strange Comcast is paying more for content than Disney since Disney has a lot more studios producing content.

But then again, there are 3rd party content creators and studios that sell their indie content to the big distributors...
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
Universal Movie Studios and TV
NBC TV
Illumination
Dreamworks
Telemundo
Bravo
all the Versant channels to be split off in 2026
Sports and Winter Olympics
*a lot* in Spanish
International content for Peacock

But yes, it does seem strange Comcast is paying more for content than Disney since Disney has a lot more studios producing content.

But then again, there are 3rd party content creators and studios that sell their indie content to the big distributors...
Click to expand...

It must be international. Olympics would make alternating year spend highly discrepant. Based on the media distributor gauge it doesn’t make a lot of sense that this discrepancy is domestic, or they are really not spending their money well.

I guess there is also Sky.
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
easyrowrdw said:
I clicked on this thread by accident and was really taken aback by the original price. That $7/mo in November 2018 would be a bit over $9 today. The $70 would be a little over $90. Current prices: $18.99/month or $189.99/year. (A plan with ads is $11.99, but ads.)

We finally canceled our subscription. I still think it’s the best service for families but the price is just too high. Maybe they’ll have a Black Friday sale. I dunno
Click to expand...

I get it, but I will honestly say that when D+ and all the other streamers came out - and when Netflix was cheap and losing money every year on streaming - my thought was always "these prices are completely unsustainable, they are going to need to go up quite a bit to make this a viable business practice"

Realistically, the idea that streaming would be something that would make entertainment so much cheaper to consumers never made sense to me. It's not like the cost of producing shows/movies would somehow be decreased by streaming. You might be cutting out the middle man of TV networks/cable & satellite but instead the infrastructure of the streamer has to be paid for so I'm not sure how much of a savings that is in process (there's some money saved there though). I think the biggest benefit in terms of cost is the ability to add and drop services so you can be paying for fewer subscriptions at any one point - but then have have access to less content at a given moment. I mean, it can definitely be cheaper but in the long run if you wanted access to everything at all time, it's not going to be dramatically different than having a robust cable TV package.
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
I get it, but I will honestly say that when D+ and all the other streamers came out - and when Netflix was cheap and losing money every year on streaming - my thought was always "these prices are completely unsustainable, they are going to need to go up quite a bit to make this a viable business practice"

Realistically, the idea that streaming would be something that would make entertainment so much cheaper to consumers never made sense to me. It's not like the cost of producing shows/movies would somehow be decreased by streaming. You might be cutting out the middle man of TV networks/cable & satellite but instead the infrastructure of the streamer has to be paid for so I'm not sure how much of a savings that is in process (there's some money saved there though). I think the biggest benefit in terms of cost is the ability to add and drop services so you can be paying for fewer subscriptions at any one point - but then have have access to less content at a given moment. I mean, it can definitely be cheaper but in the long run if you wanted access to everything at all time, it's not going to be dramatically different than having a robust cable TV package.
Click to expand...

Indeed and we’re still running a fraction of that pricing per content. A single main streamer like Netflix or D+Hulu are providing a wealth of premium content that outstrips a robust cable package a few decades ago.

Heck HBO add on was 15$ 20 years ago. Almost 25$ in currency today. For what? One or two premium shows you’d watch on a Sunday. Certainly not Disneys entire film catalogue and early first run access to their theatrical fare.

All the streamers did a bit of a disservice to the general value of content on their launches. We’ll never return to true inflation adjusted cable pricing, but there is so much runway left for them to go. It also severely hurts the theatrical model when at home content is Pennys on the dollar.
 
E

easyrowrdw

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
I get it, but I will honestly say that when D+ and all the other streamers came out - and when Netflix was cheap and losing money every year on streaming - my thought was always "these prices are completely unsustainable, they are going to need to go up quite a bit to make this a viable business practice"

Realistically, the idea that streaming would be something that would make entertainment so much cheaper to consumers never made sense to me. It's not like the cost of producing shows/movies would somehow be decreased by streaming. You might be cutting out the middle man of TV networks/cable & satellite but instead the infrastructure of the streamer has to be paid for so I'm not sure how much of a savings that is in process (there's some money saved there though). I think the biggest benefit in terms of cost is the ability to add and drop services so you can be paying for fewer subscriptions at any one point - but then have have access to less content at a given moment. I mean, it can definitely be cheaper but in the long run if you wanted access to everything at all time, it's not going to be dramatically different than having a robust cable TV package.
Click to expand...
BrianLo said:
Indeed and we’re still running a fraction of that pricing per content. A single main streamer like Netflix or D+Hulu are providing a wealth of premium content that outstrips a robust cable package a few decades ago.

Heck HBO add on was 15$ 20 years ago. Almost 25$ in currency today. For what? One or two premium shows you’d watch on a Sunday. Certainly not Disneys entire film catalogue and early first run access to their theatrical fare.

All the streamers did a bit of a disservice to the general value of content on their launches. We’ll never return to true inflation adjusted cable pricing, but there is so much runway left for them to go. It also severely hurts the theatrical model when at home content is Pennys on the dollar.
Click to expand...
I don't subscribe to Netflix so I can't compare. It's been so long since I had cable, but cable gave me access to many channels, not just Disney. Of course it was more expensive. I personally think the movies and series that HBO has to offer are better than what you find on Disney+. You also get access to many live sports events with HBO.

But my assessment on the service is what Disney is charging and offering now compared to where they started. Even understanding the initial price was low by design, I don't think they've done nearly enough to bring $19/month worth of value to the service. The catalog options are great, but those were there since the beginning. I like the "behind the scenes" stuff, but they seem to have abandoned many of them. I honestly haven't been impressed by any of the scripted series. That's a matter of opinion, but I think only a few have really hit from a popularity standpoint. Hulu seems to have done better there. That they price the bundles so close to the regular D+ price definitely reinforces the idea that they're trying to push people to have both.
 
Disney Irish

Disney Irish

Premium Member
easyrowrdw said:
I don't subscribe to Netflix so I can't compare. It's been so long since I had cable, but cable gave me access to many channels, not just Disney. Of course it was more expensive. I personally think the movies and series that HBO has to offer are better than what you find on Disney+. You also get access to many live sports events with HBO.

But my assessment on the service is what Disney is charging and offering now compared to where they started. Even understanding the initial price was low by design, I don't think they've done nearly enough to bring $19/month worth of value to the service. The catalog options are great, but those were there since the beginning. I like the "behind the scenes" stuff, but they seem to have abandoned many of them. I honestly haven't been impressed by any of the scripted series. That's a matter of opinion, but I think only a few have really hit from a popularity standpoint. Hulu seems to have done better there. That they price the bundles so close to the regular D+ price definitely reinforces the idea that they're trying to push people to have both.
Click to expand...
First we have to stop thinking of D+ and Hulu as separate services at this point. They are merged, Hulu shows up as a tile inside D+ and has been for awhile now in the US, and sometime next year a new app will be released with a new overall unified experience and the Hulu standalone app will be permanently decommissioned. So this "Hulu has done it better" idea needs to end, Hulu is D+, D+ is Hulu, they are one in the same now. If Hulu puts out a show IT IS D+, and vice-versa.

Overall they do want people to be on the bundle, because that is where the most content is and where the most ads will be seen. In fact I'll go one step further, I've long predicted that eventually there will no longer be a D+ only tier, that it'll be phased out. And I expect that'll get announced sometime next year after Hulu standalone is decommissioned.

Also think of the D+/Hulu bundle as akin to the cheap cable skinny bundle that started to become popular, where you get access to a majority of popular content from many services. For example you can watch things from CBS, NBC, FOX and more, plus all the Disney content. And get the D+/Hulu/HBO bundle and then you also get all the HBO stuff.
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
easyrowrdw said:
Hulu seems to have done better there. That they price the bundles so close to the regular D+ price definitely reinforces the idea that they're trying to push people to have both.
Click to expand...

Ah sorry! I’m international and Hulu has been fully integrated for like four years.

All my commentary is always about the full suite. I definitely agree that D+ as a standalone has major content gaps and therefore has niche appeal for the price.

I trotted out the HBO comp because I was considering FX and Searchlight content as part of the comparator.
 
E

easyrowrdw

Well-Known Member
DCBaker said:
Here's a new ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle Black Friday early access offer:

View attachment 894009

Link: https://www.disneyplus.com/welcome/gma-black-friday-offer
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing!

When I click on the terms I see there's another option... Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium offer terms: Offer for Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium plan only: $14.99/month for 12 months, then auto-renews at $19.99/month or then-current regular monthly price.

I don't see a way to access this option though. $5/month is nice, but ads are annoying lol
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
easyrowrdw said:
Thanks for sharing!

When I click on the terms I see there's another option... Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium offer terms: Offer for Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium plan only: $14.99/month for 12 months, then auto-renews at $19.99/month or then-current regular monthly price.

I don't see a way to access this option though. $5/month is nice, but ads are annoying lol
Click to expand...
The ads are really weird too. They aren't just standard broadcast type ads but more of the stuff you see late night infomercials. Disney+ can't justify the price based on content without Hulu. There is some great stuff on Hulu but not so much on Disney+.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom