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Disney+ streaming to launch in US in November

Disney reveals streaming plans, but no date for Australia as yet.

Disney+ streaming service will launch in the US on November 12 with a slate of exclusive TV shows and movies from some of the world’s most popular entertainment franchises.

The service will debut in the United States, but the company said it “plans to be in nearly all major regions of the world within the next two years.”

At a cost of $US7 monthly or $US70 annually it will feature Disney films and TV shows, plus programming from the Marvel superhero universe, the Star Wars galaxy, Pixar animation and the National Geographic channel. Amongst that library will be a live-action Star Wars series called The Mandalorian, a show focused on Marvel movie villain Loki, and animated Monsters at Work, inspired by Pixar’s “Monsters Inc.”

All content will be downloadable so that it can be watched offline.

Additional originals on the platform will include a High School Musical series and a live-action film remake of Lady and the Tramp.

Disney recently purchased film and TV assets from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century FOX. That will see The Simpsons stream exclusively through Disney+. Other FOX titles on Disney+ will include The Sound of Music, The Princess Bride and Malcolm in the Middle.

Disney had been supplying new to Netflix after their runs in cinemas but ended that arrangement this year to feed its own streaming ambitions.

The company is also forecasting it will have between 60 million and 90 million subscribers by the end of 2024. One-third of those subscribers will be domestic and two-thirds will be international, the company said.

In Australia Disney content was recently added to Stan, although not as an exclusive deal given content remains with Foxtel.

Source: Reuters, CNBC

9 Responses

  1. If they could do this for $10 in Australia they will give Netflix a real challenge. I think Stan might have to join forces as they might just get beaten by the big guns. Disney+Stan maybe? Or could they join with Foxtel as they have a relationship, they are teaming with Netflix after all . So might be that Stan or Foxtel loose there Disney/Fox shows.

    1. We are looking at a small Australian market with a limited viewing audience, Disney+ will be concentrating mostly on establishing its domestic market, the rest of the world will be factored in gradually when opportunity arises, local players like Stan will need to keep working hard to maintain its SVOD niche, there’s still some future business prospects for them to keep a reasonable audience share providing their content remains relevant and up to date. Foxtel will have to broaden its horizons to survive if it doesn’t eventually want to become a dedicated sports app provider.

      1. That sort of attitude these days is short sighted. Australians who want the content are just going to use smart VPN service like Getflix to access the US service. The service should be worldwide from launch with the same content everywhere.

        1. Most of Disney’s content is already available in Australia on various platforms. Disney have said they’re rolling out to other markets over the next two years. It is likely the various deals they have in different markets would impact the ability to include all of their content in their service immediately. They also need to look at infrastructure needs/availability and local laws.

          Nine have said they’re looking for a partner for Stan.

  2. If Nine were smart they’d do a deal for Disney+ to take over Stan’s subscriber base and get leverage by having unlimited access to Disney’s worldwide content for its suite of channels.

  3. I would think that Disney+ would want to adopt Netflix’s tried and proven global marketing model eventually though I’m not sure how it will handle dealing with the EU for example with their local content laws, Disney+ will need to internationalize it’s content and not just dub foreign languages to it’s catalogue of American movies and shows, which no doubt they already do.

  4. I would have been really really excited to see an almost worldwide launch from the very start. With the power that Disney leverages it would be possible too. Maybe they have to wait for some deals to expire? But I guess the U.S is the entire world to major companies, especially when it comes to technology and streaming…

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