In a long-awaited announcement, Disney has announced a release date for its upcoming streaming service, Disney+. The company announced in a conference on Thursday for its investors. Kevin Mayer, the head of Disney’s direct-to-consumer unit, gave Disney investors a sneak peek at what they can expect from the app’s interface and user experience. The company also announced a pricing plan for new members. A subscription to Disney+ will cost just $6.99/month starting on November 12. Users can also pay in advance at $69.99/year.
Disney+
Disney has been alluding to creating its own streaming service for quite some time now. The company announced just last year that it would be pulling all of its content from Netflix and Hulu libraries. This was the first step that the company took to prepare for the launch of its own streaming library. Since then, the company has teased the idea of a complete collection being accessible at one, low monthly price.
What this means for the entertainment world is that we’re going to see a lot more original content coming out of companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime TV. In an already saturated market, Disney is perhaps one of the only companies that can successfully launch its own streaming service and see immediate success. Disney’s cult following is massive and worldwide, and the company owns an alarming amount of content in the entertainment industry, so it’s streaming service will be well-worth just about any price tag.
With Disney swooping up most of the children’s content floating around already, other streaming services will have to make up for that loss elsewhere. Netflix, for example, will be roalling out (I’m sorry) a new series inspired by the works of Roald Dahl in the near future. The company was also heavily involved in Sundance Film Festival to find new original content.
Fox Merge
Purchasing Fox was the last piece of the puzzle that Disney needed in order to secure most of the entertainment industry. Now, with Fox, Disney+ will have a stronghold on most of the mainstream entertainment coming out of Hollywood (and Silicon Valley, in Pixar’s case). The aim of the purchase was to secure a vast library of content for Disney+. It also brought with it a lot of other perks for the Disney company.
Disney now has a virtually endless library of themes and ideas to pull from for future endorsements, products, or theme parks. Star Wars land is set to open at Disneyland later this spring. A Marvel land will be opening shortly after that. So the options are endless for future moneymakers at the theme parks.
The company has also been investing in its classic movies on a new level. Live action versions of classic cartoons have been slowly coming into fruition on the big screen. Dumbo was released only weeks ago. Live action versions of Aladdin and The Lion King are set to hit theaters later this year. On the same note, Disney has new Star Wars and Marvel movies hitting theaters every year for the rest of time. So good luck getting your future children up to speed with those franchises.
Disney will release Disney+ on November 12 of this year. A membership to the streaming service will cost $6.99/month or $69.99/year. The Disney+ library will include the entire library of Disney content, plus Fox, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic.
