Disney+ release impacts cable TV and streaming service industry

Disneys+streaming+service+Disney%2B+released+last+Tuesday.+The+service+includes+movies+from+many+of+Disneys+franchises%2C+such+as+Marvel+and+Pixar.

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Disney’s streaming service Disney+ released last Tuesday. The service includes movies from many of Disney’s franchises, such as Marvel and Pixar.

Margaret Troup

Disney+, a new streaming service housing Disney-owned properties, debuted last Tuesday, gaining over 10 million subscribers in 24 hours.

Disney+ offers multiple Disney movies from their franchises, including “Star Wars,” Marvel, Pixar and National Geographic.

This streaming service costs $6.99 per month for the basic package or $12.99 per month for the advanced package, which includes subscriptions to Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.

While Disney+ is slightly cheaper to Netflix’s plans, which start at $9 per month and go up to $16 per month, their limited content choices are a problem, as not everything from their big franchises are being included.

Additionally, subscribers don’t know exactly how the catalogue of content will change on a month to month basis, similarly to Netflix’s ongoing-curation.

With Disney joining in on the bandwagon of creating their own streaming service, the fate of cable TV is practically sealed.

Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Premium, Disney+ and the upcoming NBCU streaming services have all conglomerated in an attempt to phase out cable TV, therefore forcing viewers to give up cable and pay for each of their streaming subscriptions individually. This can cost just as much or possibly more than cable TV does currently. 

Netflix is seen to have more of a “quantity over quality” selection of content for viewers, while Disney+ has more of a niche fan base but quality content. If viewers aren’t hardcore Marvel, “Star Wars” or Disney fans in general, or a parent of Disney-addicted children, then feel free to skip out on subscribing to Disney+. 

Currently, six of the 16 Marvel movies are on Disney+, with the in-universe “Spider-Man” movies likely never to be included, due to Disney’s problems with Sony.

“We love our friends at Sony, but we don’t have any plans to have the live-action Spider-Man movies on Disney+,” said Ricky Strauss, Disney’s head of content and marketing for Disney+. “We will have all the Spider-Man animated shows that we did, so they’ll be on there under the Marvel banner.”