Disney+ Disney+ Streaming Service (Official Thread) (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

“Disney to offer two streaming services and end its movie distribution agreement with Netflix”

http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-disney-earnings-20170808-story.html

 

[Joseph Bolus]

This will undoubtedly be a huge loss for Netflix.

The impact of this probably won’t be felt, though, until late Spring of 2019 as under the current agreement Netflix will still get all Disney/Marvel/Star Wars movies released through 2018. In addition, Netflix will retain streaming rights to the movies through 2019; they just won’t obtain any new content after 2018. Also, it seems that Disney is willing to separately negotiate the Marvel/Star Wars rights, so Netflix may ultimately be able to hang on to those properties.

The bigger news here, though, is the announcement of the ESPN streaming channel. This could be the final death blow to the already moribund traditional cable model. With ESPNs availability via a streaming channel (not requiring a cable or Direct TV sign-in) most people will now opt for a high speed internet package combined with subscriptions to Netflix, Disney, and ESPN and call it a day.

 

[Jason_V]

It may a short term loss for Netflix, but it will be a long term loss for Disney. This is yet another subscription service serving a very niche audience. With the proliferation of streaming sites, the studios are doing two things:

1) Losing the license money as a secondary revenue stream (and increasing expenses for upkeep of their own network); and
2) Making consumers really decide what is and is not important.

There will be a tipping point when consumers say enough. I think we're close to getting there and something is going to break fairly soon.

 

[pixelBell]

This is an interesting topic. I believe Netflix and Hulu have sensed this challenge a long time ago since they have heavily invested in original contents. It would be interesting to see how these players compete in this battlefield.

Meanwhile, as a consumer, I am glad to see it but with certain concern.
1) More quality contents to be produced;
2) More quality services accessible to consumers
3) However, does it mean I have to pay multiple subscription fees to watch contents I would like? I hope there will be certain coordination between these companies.

 

[EricSchulz]

This is an interesting topic. I believe Netflix and Hulu have sensed this challenge a long time ago since they have heavily invested in original contents. It would be interesting to see how these players compete in this battlefield.

Meanwhile, as a consumer, I am glad to see it but with certain concern.
1) More quality contents to be produced;
2) More quality services accessible to consumers
3) However, does it mean I have to pay multiple subscription fees to watch contents I would like? I hope there will be certain coordination between these companies.

Number three is what bothers me. I have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Between the three I always find something good to watch, whether it's original content or acquired. However, I can't imagine (for me) that another subscription just for Disney would be worth it. Pretty soon the costs will back up to what it was before I "cut the cord".

 

[Jason_V]

3) However, does it mean I have to pay multiple subscription fees to watch contents I would like? I hope there will be certain coordination between these companies.

If this goes anything like the digital copy fiasco, don't hold your breath. Everyone has their own system and very rarely do they talk to one another.

The more the studios don't cooperate, the more money they theoretically stand to make in the short term. In the long term? This will hurt them all.

 

[TravisR]

Pretty soon the costs will back up to what it was before I "cut the cord".

Exactly. Who is going to pay $10 or so a month for, say, just CBS when they also 'have' to pay that much for Fox or ABC or NBC or AMC or CNN, etc. while also paying money for a few of the other popular streaming services? It doesn't take long to top an average cable bill. Obviously, Netflix and Hulu are the kings of the hill and will likely continue to be and I think Disney & even HBO are something of an exception that people will pay for but there's only going to be scraps left for almost every other channel.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm not sure how this helps longterm, either.

It's not realistic or practical for people to maintain multiple subscriptions to different services. It's especially not practical for each studio to have their own unique portal. The customer shouldn't have to remember which studio made a particular movie in order to figure out how and where to watch it.

The one studio that has a strong brand recognition and could possibly succeed in launching their own service could be Disney. For me, this probably doesn't have a lot of value, because anything Disney that I want, I probably already own the disc for. (If they added a ton of rare material that's out of print on disc or never came to disc, that could be an entirely different story.) But I think it's a bad idea overall, that fragments a market that shouldn't be fragmented any further. When I'm being asked to subscribe to multiple services for what ends up being a small amount of things that interest me, eventually when the novelty wears off, I get tired of spending the money and cancel, and I usually don't come back. And there are plenty of people out there who are more than happy to download something illegally or use one of those illegal Firesticks if the subscription options become too expensive or too hard to figure out.

 

[Malcolm R]

I am also not willing to sign up for a separate streaming service for each studio/network/broadcaster.

 

[Cranston37+]

I say let them try new things on the chance that it might work and people will enjoy it and let the market sort it all out...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I am also not willing to sign up for a separate streaming service for each studio/network/broadcaster.

Same here. The only streaming service we pay for is Amazon Prime, and we get much more than just streaming for our annual fee -- which is not much different than just Netflix's monthly fee. I am not going down the road of subscribing to a bunch of separate streaming services. I prefer how I use Vudu -- renting individual films occasionally similar to how we used to use our local Blockbuster when video rental stores still existed.

Well, I do also subscribe to NHL.tv in order to watch my favorite hockey team, which happens to be out of market so I cannot get the games on local television. But I will not start subscribing to ESPN, Disney, CBS, Hulu, Netflix, etc, etc.

 

[DavidJ]

Same here. The only streaming service we pay for is Amazon Prime, and we get much more than just streaming for our annual fee -- which is not much different than just Netflix's monthly fee. I am not going down the road of subscribing to a bunch of separate streaming services. I prefer how I use Vudu -- renting individual films occasionally similar to how we used to use our local Blockbuster when video rental stores still existed.

Well, I do also subscribe to NHL.tv in order to watch my favorite hockey team, which happens to be out of market so I cannot get the games on local television. But I will not start subscribing to ESPN, Disney, CBS, Hulu, Netflix, etc, etc.

Well, you should be Red Wings fan anyway, Scott, so you kind of brought that one on yourself.

Now, I have to subscribe to NHL.tv because I live in the Stars market.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I already have subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime on top of my monthly Dish bill. I absolutely refuse to add any more streaming services so Disney won't see a dime of my money.

 

[Richard V]

Ditto to above, I already have Directv, Amazon Prime, and Netflix, not to mention OTA TV which has a treasure trove of old classic TV, that is PLENTY. Disney won't hook me.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Disney could hook me if they built a service that was about providing rare Disney material that was unavailable or out of print elsewhere. Simply making their animated films, which are widely available on Blu-ray, into a new service won't do anything for me. Nor would it even if they added Star Wars or Marvel. I own all of those discs. But I'm clearly not the target market and maybe there are enough interested people out there to make that fly. Though, not to bring things too far off topic, but it was just announced today that NBC is shutting down Seeso, their streaming comedy platform that launched a year or two ago that they apparently put tons of money, resources and talent into. It had standup, improv and scripted comedy from popular entertainers and apparently some great catalog stuff too. But they couldn't get enough people to join for paid subscriptions to make it worthwhile. And they only were asking like $5 a month. NBC couldn't convince people that it was worth $5 a month for access to brand new sitcoms, short films, original shows and standup specials starring comedians who are generally popular in their other endeavors - not to mention, the back catalog of almost every comedic thing that was ever on NBC's broadcast network. So it's kinda interesting that Disney is announcing the launch of a new niche service just as another new niche service has folded. People like all of those things that Seeso offered, but it turns out that most people aren't willing to pay a separate fee for entertainment similar to what they already get.

But on the other hand, Disney has tons of valuable material that is not readily available. Many of the classic cartoon shorts have been mastered in HD, but are only available on disc as out-of-print DVDs. Put up every Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto cartoon, along with every Silly Symphony. Put up every single broadcast of the Disneyland show in all of its various incarnations. That alone would be worth a monthly subscription fee to me. If I could watch Walt Disney hosting an episode of Disneyland I've never seen before a couple times a week, that's worth a fee to me.

But if it's just, "Frozen is now on Disneyflix instead of Netflix," that doesn't really phase me one way or the other.

 

[EricSchulz]

Of course, the one advantage is that if you DON'T use a service you can drop it right away. For so long it was "do we drop cable and EVERYTHING it offers" for OTA or discs. Eventually some of these services with wither and die or be incorporated into others.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Eventually some of these services with wither and die or be incorporated into others.

You're probably right. In which case, we wind up right back where we are now.

 

[David Deeb]

I love streaming and never, ever going back to cable which we dropped 2 years ago.

I'm not sure individual studio channels are a good idea. What makes Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and a few others so valuable is the available mix of quality content: comedy, drama, foreign films, stand up comedy, classic TV, new TV and TV and movies produced by many different studios.

So many great free apps too: YouTube, PBS, Smithsonian, Vimeo, Crackle, ABC, etc.

Disney might be the one studio which can attract subs with just their name & be a standalone studio channel. But unless they include tons of classic Disney, I don't see me trying it. Their current app requires a paid cable or satellite sub and is primarily loaded with the horrible sitcoms they currently produce.

 

[DaveF]

My basic question: Netflix has Disney movies? Last I looked, which might be a few years ago, was Netflix had no "tent pole" Avengers / Marvel movies. I didn't think they had Pixar or Disney animated films either.

The last couple years, I've understand Netflix as the source for TV and original content. But no longer the places for movies.

But if this causes Netflix to lose Jessica Jones, etc., that would be a big loss.

 

[Jason_V]

My basic question: Netflix has Disney movies? Last I looked, which might be a few years ago, was Netflix had no "tent pole" Avengers / Marvel movies. I didn't think they had Pixar or Disney animated films either.

The last couple years, I've understand Netflix as the source for TV and original content. But no longer the places for movies.

But if this causes Netflix to lose Jessica Jones, etc., that would be a big loss.

I'm on the Netflix app right now and a quick look shows:

Moana
Finding Dory
Doctor Strange
Civil War
Rogue One
Emperor's New Groove
Lilo and Stitch
Zootopia
Atlantis
Hannah Montana
Mulan II
Jungle Book (new)
Pirates I
Alice Through the Looking Glass

And that list took me two minutes to find.

Still, this has been one of my long-standing problems with streaming: the movies can be pulled at any time for any reason. And there isn't a think the consumer can do about it. If you have the disc on the shelf, no one (short of theft) is going to take it away from you.