Disney to launch new streaming service in November
BURBANK: The Walt Disney Company announced on Thursday that its streaming service ‘Disney+’ will launch in November in the United States, intensifying competition in the streaming arena with digital powerhouses like Netflix and Amazon.
The company revealed key details about Disney+ including its launch date and pricing at Disney’s 2019 Investor Day in Burbank, California.
According to Disney, the upcoming Disney+ service will launch in the US market on 12 November 2019 at $6.99 a month. The service will offer fans of all ages a new way to experience unparalleled content from the company’s iconic entertainment brands, including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic, and will be available on connected TV and mobile devices.
“Disney+ marks a bold step forward in an exciting new era for our company -- one in which consumers will have a direct connection to the incredible array of creative content that is The Walt Disney Company’s hallmark,” Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, told investors during the event.
“We are confident that the combination of our unrivaled storytelling, beloved brands, iconic franchises, and cutting-edge technology will make Disney+ a standout in the marketplace, and deliver significant value for consumers and shareholders alike,” he said.
“We’re extremely excited about our growing portfolio of direct-toconsumer offerings. As we demonstrated today, with Disney+ we will deliver extraordinary entertainment in innovative ways to audiences around the world,” said Kevin Mayer, chairman of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International business segment.
Disney+ will launch with an impressive library of theatrical and television content, and in its first year will release more than 25 original series and 10 original films, documentaries and specials by some of the industry’s most prolific and creative storytellers, said the company in a statement.
Scripted originals previously announced for Disney+ include The Mandalorian, the world’s first scripted live-action Star Wars series; the exclusive new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars; High School Musical and The Musical: The Series among others.
Additionally, Disney+ announced that all 30 seasons of The Simpsons will be available on the service on day one. In the service’s first year, audiences will also have access to family-friendly Fox titles like The Sound of Music, The Princess Bride and Malcolm in the Middle as part of an impressive collection of more than 7,500 television episodes and 500 films including blockbuster hits from 2019 and beyond.
By finalizing the $71.3-billiondollar acquisition of 21st Century Fox last month, Disney is poised to strengthen its position in the US media and entertainment industry. It’s widely considered as a major step by Disney to move toward a streaming service that has become rather mainstream and away from old-fashioned cable TV, competing with Netflix, Amazon, Apple and other tech companies that have broken into the entertainment industry.
Disney’s $6.99 monthly fee is nearly half Netflix’s standard $12.99 plan. The pricing is also lower than Amazon Prime Video’s $8.99 basic plan.
But its biggest rival, the streaming giant Netflix, reported in January that it had over 139 million paid memberships in over 190 countries, including over 60 million in the United States.