By ALLEN HILLS
Staff Writer
Ever since Disney announced they were going to create their own streaming service in late 2017, the anticipation has greatly increased. The company made the announcement as a result of their purchasing of a major stake in an MLB-run streaming subsidiary called BAMtech. Two weeks ago, however, Disney CEO Bob Iger and other top officials of the company finally announced in a presentation in Burbank, California during their 2019 Investor Day that their highly anticipated streaming service, Disney+, will be launched on Nov. 12 of this year. More importantly, they announced the subscription price for the service, which will only be $6.99 a month.
Iger believes that Disney+ is a smart move for the company’s growth because of people’s appeal towards streaming services and how they like to customize their own desired content through viewing it on numerous devices. Furthermore, he said during a CNBC interview with David Faber following his presentation to the investors, “It was clear that given the company’s ability to create content that people love, why not give people content that they love, but on platforms that are becoming more and more interesting to them, more and more compelling to them?”
Disney+ has already been confirmed to exclusively feature original content from companies and franchises that Disney has acquired and pushed to great success, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and surprisingly enough, National Geographic. The quantitative specifics involving those shows however was also finally revealed to the investors as well. In the service’s first year alone, Disney+ will stream 10 all new original movies and 25 new original series. The service will also include more than 7,500 Disney TV episodes, and more than 500 film titles. Some of these films were previously kept under lock and key in the hypothetical “Disney vault,” which was a sales method that Disney used for a long time, involving the releases of certain titles every once-in-a-while for a limited time.
Now because of Disney+, they will be easily accessible for a longer time, and they will be dirt cheap (since the $6.99 monthly subscription is all it costs to view these movies). In addition to these rare films, Disney+ will also serve as the new streaming platform for upcoming theatrical releases, as opposed to Disney’s previous streaming deals with Netflix which will be expiring soon. In fact, Disney waited until late 2019 to launch the service because that is when their partnership with Netflix will conclude. What this means is that future theatrical releases from Disney and all their subsidiaries will stream on Disney+ instead of Netflix once their theatrical runs have concluded.
What is even more exciting is how Disney+ will be made available to its customers on the web. It will be offered in a basic website platform for laptops, and in a standard app format for smartphones, while PS4s and other gaming consoles will also feature exclusive access to the service. The most exciting part of all this however is Disney’s deal with Roku. Roku is a series of media platform sticks that sell as low as $29.99 which is increasingly becoming more popular, as suggested by their garnered revenue of more than $400 million back in 2018. In fact, statistics reveal that 1 in every 4 smart TVs throughout the country are of the Roku brand.
Just like a wireless Blu-ray player or Smart TV would do, these sticks offer access to all the basic streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc. They also feature connections to other thriving services like Starz, Epix, and HBO. They even feature the Roku Channel, which contains free movies and TV shows exclusively for Roku users. Disney is in the process of featuring Disney+ on the Roku Channel, which means that very soon, Roku will be worth $1 billion as a result. Considering that I am someone who recently switched to Roku for the sake of faster internet speed for streaming content, my switch could not be timelier.
Disney+ may not be fully launched yet, but you can go to www.disneyplus.com and sign up to receive updates in your email inboxes. Those who already have, like me, have recently received the exciting email labeled “Introducing Disney+,” updating future subscribers on the launch date, the content, and the monthly subscription prices. Even if you have missed out on your chance to receive this thrilling email, there are still plenty of reasons to be excited for Disney+. Every piece of entertainment media from Disney that we love, and every piece of media entertainment that is yet to be produced, will be exclusively featured on one glamorous streaming service owned by the most impactful entertainment company in world history.
