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

[Disney Irish]

I wonder if they will open downloading of the app early (without the content up and available). I just envision millions of people all downloading and attempting to login at the exact same time crashing servers (maybe I'm way off on that worry).

Since the app resides on its respective app stores and not directly on Disney's site that shouldn't be a problem. Apple, Google, and the various other sites that will host the app should have no issue with the traffic. Also the app is available now in trial in the Netherlands on the various app stores. They've been updating it constantly since they released in September. So they are working out the bugs quickly with the app. The app itself should work fairly well on launch day.

And as for the Disney side, if they can't handle millions of logins at launch how are they going to be able to handle the millions of daily logins after launch. This is something that I think they have anticipated. Sure there will be initial issues, just like with every new product launch. But my bet is within a couple hours everything will be running smoothly.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Disney's ESPN+ has been hosting giant subscriber events without a hitch. So, I'm confident in D+.

Also, being able to d/l content means their servers aren't going to be hit over and over again by the three year old crowd wanting to watch Moana all day long.

 

[brb1006]

New trailer for The Mandalorian

 

[Darkprime]

How Disney Plus, HBO Max, Peacock Are Banking on Splashy Movies in the Streaming Wars

Studios ramp up pricey first-run films to help their new digital offerings make a splash with consumers.

variety.com

Thought this was interesting.

Disney’s rivals aren’t as firm in their plans, but they’re beginning to move aggressively. HBO Max is expected to lean heavily on Warner Bros. to supply it with exclusive content. The subscription service hopes the studio will provide it with eight to 10 movies, a number that could ramp up over time. Certain films could be produced or overseen by the likes of Abrams and Greg Berlanti, two prominent creative forces with overall deals on the lot. Some of these productions could be tentpole-sized, with healthy budgets that could rival those of major feature films. Eventually productions will likely hail from the DC Universe, WarnerMedia’s in-house comic book division, as it looks for compelling content. The studio was successful in convincing Melissa McCarthy to release her upcoming comedy “Superintelligence” on the service, and other feature projects could follow suit.

Have Disney commented if Marvel will produce original films for Disney+? We know their doing big budget series but idk if theyve said anything about films.

 

[Darkprime]

So Disney+ will have a 6 month head start on HBO Max which doesn't launch till May 2020.

 

[BrianLo]

HBO Max's lineup actually looks pretty solid. The studio Ghibli fare is the one thing I wish Disney+ had preferentially licensed.

Disney+ seems a bit of an uncontested necessity... but I wonder where all these cross competing streaming platforms push each other (Hulu included).

Eventually the cord cutter generation just builds theselves back an 60 dollar cable like package, but I suppose with overall better content than a decade ago.

 

[Darkprime]

Out of all the major streaming services I do think Netflix will be the one 1st one to fail. They're swimming in debt, losing content daily. Spending more money than they have. Subscriber growth has peaked etc. They'll be remembered for ushering in the new streaming era kinda like what Napster did for music

 

[sedati]

HBO Max's lineup actually looks pretty solid. The studio Ghibli fare is the one thing I wish Disney+ had preferentially licensed.

I agree. Not getting Ghibli was a big miss. I also wonder if they will be re-dubbing the films. The Disney versions were excellent.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Out of all the major streaming services I do think Netflix will be the one 1st one to fail. They're swimming in debt, losing content daily. Spending more money than they have. Subscriber growth has peaked etc. They'll be remembered for ushering in the new streaming era kinda like what Napster did for music

I feel CBS All Access is going to fold. Don't they own the distribution rights to South Park and just licensed that out? Regardless they are licensing content instead of bringing them in house. They will either need to grow (i.e. acquire/merge with SPE, MGM, or Lionsgate) or they will die. Likewise Apple TV+ needs to do the same (i.e. buy a content provider like SPE, MGM, or Lionsgate). To a lesser extent Netflix is in the same boat.

Disney will need to revamp Hulu and integrate it further with Disney+ and ESPN+. They need synergy.there. It's good to have a la carte options (i.e. just D+ or E+ or Hulu), but they'll need to keep working on that compelling bundle and ubiquity on the interface across their platforms. HBO Max is in a strong position with Warner's contents and the licenses they still own. It is a bigger threat to Disney long term than any of the other players IMO. Also remember they'll be having Fox films until 2022, so it's quite possible that Avatar 2 will stream on HBO Max and not Disney+.

Amazon Prime is fine as their video streaming is secondary to shipping. I don't think a lot of people would pay if there was an extra charge. Peacock will be fine as value add to Xfinity users and Comcast. They own a lot of content (albeit not as much as Disney and Warner), but they will be fine for the short term. As the dust settles it remains to be seen if it'll be more value add or if they'll star licensing content again.

There'll still be niche products like Crackle (now majority owned by someone else since Sony got the hell out) and Crunchyroll (licensed to HBO Max). A lot of it will play out in the mid 2020s as contracts expire and IP owners start getting their product back in house.

 

[Andrew C]

PlayStation Vue is shuttering in January.

AT&T TV Now (originally DirecTV NOW) lost 195,000 customers in Q3. One of those was me, lol. AT&T lost 1.3 million regular TV subscribers. They are desperate for HBO Max.

 

[Disney Analyst]

HBO Max's lineup actually looks pretty solid. The studio Ghibli fare is the one thing I wish Disney+ had preferentially licensed.

Disney+ seems a bit of an uncontested necessity... but I wonder where all these cross competing streaming platforms push each other (Hulu included).

Eventually the cord cutter generation just builds theselves back an 60 dollar cable like package, but I suppose with overall better content than a decade ago.

I mean, honestly... I am 28, never bought cable for myself as an adult. If there's a show I really need to see, there are ways. Cable companies did it to themselves by being run in such a silly way. If I could pick a selection of channels I absolutely need, and nothing else, for a low price... I'd maybe do it.

I would likely be fine getting up to the $60.00 range per month with a specific selection of platforms, as then I am ad free, and the content is mostly things I am interested in.

 

[MisterPenguin]

D+ news coming fast and furious...

First Trailer and Poster For âPixar In Real Lifeâ Released

The imaginative world of Pixar is brought to life, as Disney has released the first trailer for their new series on Disney+ Pixar In Real Life.

thedisinsider.com

Get Your Post-Toy Story 4 Fill With The New Trailer For âForky Asks A Questionâ

Toy Story 4 may have gone but that doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing these characters again, as Pixar has released the trailer for Forky Asks A Question.

thedisinsider.com

Disney's Live-Action 'Pinocchio' Remake Could Be Making The Move To Disney+

Disney is currently discussing moving its upcoming live-action remake of Pinocchio to their forthcoming streaming service. Why you may ask?

thedisinsider.com

 

[brb1006]

 

[mikejs78]

I'm still very confused on the lack of Blue Sky (and 99.9% of Fox) content not showing on Disney+ and/or Hulu. Some of it is tied up somewhere else, but I bet not the majority. Same question with Hollywood and Touchstone. Wish someone would ask them about it in the next call.

A lot of that will probably be on Hulu, and Is don't think Disney has implemented their Hulu strategy just yet - keep in mind they just recently got control of it. Last year was ESPN+. This year, Disney+. I suspect next year we will see a revamp of Hulu with all the Touchstone/Hollywood/Fox content.

I would say that it is a very legit concern as problems happen with the launch of pretty much every immensely popular online service.

COD:MW launched just a few days ago and the servers predictably crashed at launch. Theater ticketing sites across the board seem to crash when pre-sales open for nearly every Marvel or Star Wars movie and even Amazon has issues with stability on Prime day and Black Monday.

Given Disney's reputation when it comes to online stability, I fully expect Disney+ to perform like it was connected to a 14.4 baud modem for the first week or more.

If this isn't what happens, it will be the single most shocking thing from Disney in the last 10 or more years. I have zero faith this thing won't be a train wreck for at least the first few days or more.

I actually think it won't happen. This is BAMTech, not the MDE dev team. These guys have built many reliable streaming services already..

Out of all the major streaming services I do think Netflix will be the one 1st one to fail. They're swimming in debt, losing content daily. Spending more money than they have. Subscriber growth has peaked etc. They'll be remembered for ushering in the new streaming era kinda like what Napster did for music

I agree with this. Add into this Netflix's cancellation problem, and it's on my personal potential cancel list (after my wife watches the Crown season 3).

CBS has a niche with Star Trek. They should be OK for the future. D+/Hulu/ESPN will be fine, as will Prime. Warner will probably be Ok as well. The ones I see failing quickly are NBC/Uni and Apple.

BTW, the reviews for the new AppleTV+ shows are pretty bad....

 

[seascape]

A lot of that will probably be on Hulu, and Is don't think Disney has implemented their Hulu strategy just yet - keep in mind they just recently got control of it. Last year was ESPN+. This year, Disney+. I suspect next year we will see a revamp of Hulu with all the Touchstone/Hollywood/Fox content.




I actually think it won't happen. This is BAMTech, not the MDE dev team. These guys have built many reliable streaming services already..



I agree with this. Add into this Netflix's cancellation problem, and it's on my personal potential cancel list (after my wife watches the Crown season 3).

CBS has a niche with Star Trek. They should be OK for the future. D+/Hulu/ESPN will be fine, as will Prime. Warner will probably be Ok as well. The ones I see failing quickly are NBC/Uni and Apple.

BTW, the reviews for the new AppleTV+ shows are pretty bad....

Peacock. NBCs steaming service, should do fine. They are going to add $5.00 to every Comcasts customers bill to pay for it. They also hope to get paid by every other Cable System for carrying it. They can probably get away with that because they can refuse and retransmission tights for NBC unless they agree pay. Besides, they are only going to charge $5.00 a month for other customers, so it should do fine.

 

[DisneyFreak]

CBS has a niche with Star Trek.

This is the only reason I am even remotely interested in adding CBS before January's release of Picard.

I currently have Prime, Netflix and Hulu. With adding Disney+ and possibly CBS I need to cancel some others. Hulu is one as the apps stopped working on my smart Blu-ray players and I will probably bundle with Disney/ESPN/Hulu. The other is probably going to be Netflix although I will miss Ozark, The Kominsky Method, Grace and Frankie, The Politician and my wife will miss The Crown and Dead to Me.

 

[Andrew C]

This is the only reason I am even remotely interested in adding CBS before January's release of Picard.

I currently have Prime, Netflix and Hulu. With adding Disney+ and possibly CBS I need to cancel some others. Hulu is one as the apps stopped working on my smart Blu-ray players and I will probably bundle with Disney/ESPN/Hulu. The other is probably going to be Netflix although I will miss Ozark, The Kominsky Method, Grace and Frankie, The Politician and my wife will miss The Crown and Dead to Me.

Keep Hulu and don't do CBS. I don't think it is worth it based on the price and what they offer. But that is my just my opinion of course.

 

[MisterPenguin]

CBS has a niche with Star Trek. They should be OK for the future.

This is the only reason I am even remotely interested in adding CBS before January's release of Picard.

Twice I've waited for a season of their new Star Treks to end, then sign up for a month, binge the season, and unsubscribe.

I hope they get the message.

 

[CJR]

The tricky part with these services is their ease of cancellation. This isn't like cable where you had to call and argue your way out. You click a couple buttons, including the "Are you sure" button before you're out.

Annual memberships are good for this reason, but most of them from what I've seen aren't very attractive for the average customer. Disney got me with the D23 offer, so I'll have it for three years, pretty genius really. I believe Disney will have an easier time attracting annual membership households than the others, for brand loyalty, but also the price is very fair, even without the D23 deal.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Looks like they're doing daily announcements leading up to the launch...

https://thedisneyblog.com/2019/10/31/john-stamos-cast-big-shot-original-series-for-disneyplus/

John's a huge Disney parks fan, too.