Beginning Nov. 12, when Disney’s ambitious streaming service debuts, U.S. consumers will be able to subscribe to a streaming bundle of Disney+, ESPN+ and advertising-supported Hulu for $12.99 a month
CEO/Bob Iger: “Nothing is more important to us than getting this right,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said of the mega-package, which was announced during the company’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts. Iger has referred to the services as “three legs of the stool” in Disney’s streaming strategy
The pricing is the same rate as the most popular subscription from Netflix Inc., the current streaming leader, and sets a high bar for forthcoming services from Apple Inc. later this year, and AT&T Inc.’s HBO Max and Comcast’s NBCUniversal in 2020
The three-headed content combo of Disney, ESPN, and Hulu could be especially troubling for Netflix, whose growth cooled in the second quarter. Netflix reported the addition of just 2.7 million paid subscribers globally, about half of what Wall Street and the company expected. Cable providers also are vulnerable as cord-cutters continue to flee those services to watch programming from their portable smart devices
Disney’s basic streaming service, which will cost $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year unbundled, boasts a deep well of content, from Marvel superheroes to “Star Wars” and Pixar classics like “Toy Story.” It will debut with 300 film titles and 7,500 episodes of Disney TV shows, which it hopes will help it reach 60 million to 90 million worldwide subscribers by fiscal 2024, most of them outside the U.S., Disney disclosed at its investor day earlier this year
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