Disney Strikes Deal with Canal+! Disney+ French Debut Set for Late March

in Disney, Entertainment, Movies & TV

Disney+mobile app download numbers

Credit: Disney

It’s official: Disney+ will launch in France in late March 2020. It will be available on the streaming platform Canal+.

On Sunday, December 15, executives from both The Walt Disney Company and Canal+ announced the deal via the French newspaper, Les Echos. Europe is the next frontier for Disney+, and viewers in England, Germany, Italy, and other Western European countries are also expected to gain access to the streaming service by March 2020.

Canal+ Logo
Credit: Canal+

The Canal/Disney partnership is beneficial for both sides as Disney strives to break further into the European markets, and Canal+ struggles to stand as a traditional media company against the onslaught of streamers from Netflix to Mediapro.

Canal+ chief executive, Maxime Saada, stated, “This exclusive partnership is a new major step in the transformation of the Canal+ model.”

Disney+ Boss, Kevin Mayer, also confirmed the partnership is part of the push to have 60-90 million Disney+ subscribers worldwide by 2024. Saada did not mention how much Canal+ will be charging French users for Disney+.

Kevin Mayer
Credit: thewrap.com

28 Million Customers in Five Countries

Disney+
Credit: Disney

The Netherlands is currently its only foothold on the European Continent. The other countries are the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming service famously earned over 10 million subscribers within the first 24 hours after launch. 

By the time it had been live for a full month, over 22 million individual Disney+ app downloads were reported with the site earning 9.5 million daily users. Disney+ is now estimated to have 28 million customers worldwide.

Disney famously severed all ties with Netflix in order to bring all of its films and shows under Disney+ or Hulu in the U.S. However, this partnership with Canal+ now raises questions about how the streaming wars will proceed outside of the U.S. At this point, only time will tell.

One thing we do know is that Disney+ is on its way to the home of Disneyland Paris.

Disneyland Paris Run Weekend
Credit: Disney

Are you subscribed to Disney+? Are you waiting for Disney+ to be available in your country? Let us know in the comments!

Source: The New York Times

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