Credit: Inside the MagicDisney has premiered four entirely new “always on” channels to its flagship streaming service, further pushing Disney+ into basically replicating old-fashioned television.
The Disney+ streaming platform was launched in 2019 and has faced quite a few speedbumps in its race to try to overtake Netflix as the world’s premiere service.
Although the Mouse initially offered it with the near-entirety of the Disney catalog of TV shows, movies, and shorts (including Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Fox IP) at a rock-bottom price of $6.99 a month, it has since more than doubled that price tag.
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At the same time, the streaming service has removed huge swathes of original and legacy content (basically to cut costs by avoiding paying residuals to people involved in actually making movies and television) and increasingly inserted advertisements in an effort to try to turn the platform profitable.
It hasn’t worked, and Disney+ has lost the company an estimated (and whopping) $11 billion in just five years.
During earning report calls, CEO Bob Iger and his fellow executives regularly tell shareholders that Disney+ streaming will soon be profitable, if not this quarter, then definitely the one after that, or maybe the next one. The company has even made the case that streaming is already profitable as long as you ignore Disney+ and Hulu’s continued losses and add ESPN+ revenue to the ledger.
In short, the Mouse House is doing everything it can to make Disney+ actually work and the next step is rolling out “Streams,” the term the company is using for, essentially, TV channels.
According to Disney, Streams are a “new feature bolsters the Disney+ offering with a live feed from ABC News and carefully curated, continuous programming Streams based on seasonality or interest that subscribers can enjoy without having to select title by title.”
The company first launched ABC News and Disney+ Playtime, replacing the formerly free apps for DisneyNOW, Freeform, FXNOW, ABC, and National Geographic. Basically, the company is trying to find new revenue by forcing cable and satellite customers to sign up for Disney+ to access the same content.
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It has now launched four new channels: Hallowstream, Hits & Heroes, Throwbacks, and Real Life.
It describes them as:
“A collection of seasonally-themed content from across the Disney+ catalog begins with Hallowstream for Halloween. Hits & Heroes, delivers a compilation of action-packed stories from marquee brands and franchises, including Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. Throwbacks, is a destination for always-on nostalgic pop culture content. Real Life, offers a lineup of traditional documentaries, biopics, and true stories. “
These new “streams will roll out on October 17, which is not coincidentally when a number of price hikes to Disney streaming bundles will also occur. Who knows? By the end of the year, Disney+ might just be a regular TV channel.
Do you think Streams make sense for a streaming service?