Disney is making strides in trying to make their upcoming Disney+ streaming service worth the money. Without the service even being out in the public, it appears fans will be able to download most of Disney’s content to a device after launch. But, there is a catch.
For one, it will require an active subscription to the service and two, the downloaded content will not be available after it leaves the platform. The actual reason behind this appears to be because of “some encumbrances from deals that we had, legacy deals that we had before, which will prevent some of it from being on initially.” This means some content will go away for “brief periods of time”, according to Bob Iger.
“Focusing on these great creative brands.”
Disney+ is slowly on its way to being a viable streaming service, albeit with a shakey library. But, at least instead of focusing on churning out mediocre original series, akin to Netflix, Disney is focusing on “good content” above all. Earlier this month, Disney acknowledged their plans for a Mickey Mouse documentary alongside one on The Little Mermaid‘s lyricist, Howard Ashman.
I think the big difference for us . . . is that we’re focusing on these great creative brands and we’re using them as navigational tools for the consumer. That really is the big difference. And in our case, it’s a little bit less of a volume play. It’s not about how much we are making, it’s about what we are making. And that is not in any way meant to cast aspersions at [the] competition — they’ve done an incredible job at seeding the marketplace and creating a product that I think is very, very good for the consumer — but our approach is very different.
The service will also debut a live-action adaptation of Lady and the Tramp and a brand-new Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. On top of that, much of Disney’s catalog of content from their various subsidiaries such as Marvel, Pixar, and National Geographic are also going to appear on the service.
Disney+ is launching on November 12, 2019, for the competitive fee of $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year.
