Disney to launch own streaming service - bye-bye Netflix

Ian;2505586 wrote:
I've viewed the last five to ten years of Disney animation as something of a renaissance for them. In fact, where it used to be that Pixar's animation offerings were head and shoulders better than Disney's, I almost feel as though that has flipped. WDFA has had some AMAZING films in the last few years. I mean Frozen is a masterpiece and is only the highest grossing animated feature of all time. Moana was a gem, as well. My kids (ages 7-15) absolutely adore these films and watch them constantly. In between those two was Zootopia, which is another fantastic film that my kids (and my wife and I, as well) were obsessed with for a year after it came out. And Big Hero 6 was also a terrific film. I'd submit you'd be hard pressed to find four Disney animated features in a row that were of this quality at any time in their entire history.

Frozen was 2013. I liked Big Hero 6, but I was the only one of the six of us. Zootopia was not bad, but it was one-and-done 'round here.

I won't deny that we might be outliers, but so are many of our friends. We used to have group outings to see the newest Disney/Pixar films, almost nobody is interested these days.

My children (ranging from 4 - 16) almost never watch the Disney content that is already on Netflix/Hulu (they won't miss it when it is gone, clearly). I realize Disney is still massively successful, but it feels like something might be changing. I'm sure my kids would have a good time if we dragged them to WDW again, but they aren't asking us to go. They regularly ask about the possibility of going to Universal. We've actually begun re-homing portions of our Disney movie collection.

I still contend that a Disney streaming service that unlocks the entire vault will instantly dominate the streaming space. I suspect they're going to play the small, safe, predictable game and expect premium service subscription fees for it.

Ian;2505586 wrote: Wow ... I normally agree with you on most things, but on this I have a very different point of view. I'm actually quite shocked, though, to see how many people agreed with you so maybe I'm off base I dunno. I'll slam Disney for a lot of things, but honestly I don't think their content output has ever been stronger.

Gotta agree with Ian. My son was born in 2010 and the stuff released just since he was born I think has been tremendous.

We own probably 40 disney movies (not counting Pixar) and paid for those all legitimately (like suckers!). Add in another 12 or so Pixar movies....I'd rather have paid for the opportunity to stream all that rather than collecting blu rays over time. If you assume $15 per disc I've bought, that's over $750. It would take a while to match that with a subscription (depending on what they charge, of course)...and new content will continue to be added (more discs I would have to buy). I don't mind this.

BTW, anyone want to buy about 50 DVDs/blu rays? Priced to move!

Mendelson;2505590 wrote:
BTW, anyone want to buy about 50 DVDs/blu rays? Priced to move!

You should wait until the details come out.

I did not notice that Disney had cut the price on DisneyLife (their U.K. streaming service) in half since the launch. If they bring that over at about the same price, $7 - $8 a month, it won't be too bad. Not interesting to me if they don't plus out the library, but would be more competitive than what they launched with.

That did remind me, we do like the Disney nature films.

Ian;2505586 wrote: Wow ... I normally agree with you on most things, but on this I have a very different point of view. I'm actually quite shocked, though, to see how many people agreed with you so maybe I'm off base I dunno.

I've viewed the last five to ten years of Disney animation as something of a renaissance for them. In fact, where it used to be that Pixar's animation offerings were head and shoulders better than Disney's, I almost feel as though that has flipped. WDFA has had some AMAZING films in the last few years. I mean Frozen is a masterpiece and is only the highest grossing animated feature of all time. Moana was a gem, as well. My kids (ages 7-15) absolutely adore these films and watch them constantly. In between those two was Zootopia, which is another fantastic film that my kids (and my wife and I, as well) were obsessed with for a year after it came out. And Big Hero 6 was also a terrific film. I'd submit you'd be hard pressed to find four Disney animated features in a row that were of this quality at any time in their entire history.

As far as the Disney Channel content, all of my kids grew up almost exclusively on Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior and then graduated to the Disney Channel. The pre-school shows have been excellent for decades, but I'll admit the tweener/teen shows on The Disney Channel are a little corny. But then again I'm not the target audience and my kids and all their friends are obsessed with like Good Luck Charlie and shows like that.

I'll slam Disney for a lot of things, but honestly I don't think their content output has ever been stronger.

The one good thing about Disney is that they have a lot of stuff for a lot of different tastes. I absolutely hated Frozen and Zootopia. My daughter doesn't like them either, and they don't hold my granddaughter's attention. I did like Tangled. I will take Lion King/Little Mermaid/etc over the movies now though. My favorites are still the original princess movies.

It occurred to me I forgot to respond to the actual topic of this post :blush:

I'm pretty concerned about the direction Disney is taking here. As others have said, what if all content owners decide to use their own streaming service to distribute? The main reason streaming services like Hulu and Netflix have become so popular is because consumers are rebelling against paying cable providers $250 a month for "bundles." In most cases people use what? Like 25% of what they pay for ... it's a dead business model that consumers aren't going to tolerate any longer. This is nothing more than the next CD's/Napster/iTunes market disruption.

If all content owners suddenly decide to follow Disney's model then what? You're going to have to pay $10 a month to 25 different people to get access to their content? It's not going to work. Forget about the money aspect (25 different providers is an exaggeration anyway), but consider the logistics/user experience of that? Do you really want 10 different bills coming in for content every month? 10 different apps and/or devices to deal with just to watch a little TV? Businesses are making this WAY too complicated and it's simply out of the rampant and excessive greed that permeates Corporate America these days. Gotta have that 20% YoY growth or the Street will make you pay the price! Stop already ... the consumers ALWAYS win. In the age of the Internet everything is basically available for free. People want to be honest but if they can't get what they want at a price they consider fair they will go outside the rules to get what they want.

Content owners should be content owners and distributors should be distributors. Keep it simple, stupids

Ian;2505676 wrote: Keep it simple, stupids

Tell us how you really feel. :P

I'll meet you at the Rainbow Bridge.

 

And so we go back to bundled cable. Entertainment has gotten too complex. I don't want to work this hard to watch tv. Half the time, I'm just looking for something watch (barring sports, racing ) being on. Anything else I record. I don't watch any of the just streaming content.

As Vince said, Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't

So I'm not going to mess w/ any of that, until I absolutely have to. I fear one day I'll have to have 10 different sports services just to watch racing, football, baseball, hockey, etc.

But, it is the way. If Disney is going to have their own streaming, I hope they pipe in some of the resort stuff they show, more info about the parks, etc.

Cinderelley;2505679 wrote: Tell us how you really feel. :P

I usually do lol

Ian;2505687 wrote: I usually do lol

That must be why I like you so much.

texas211;2505682 wrote: And so we go back to bundled cable. Entertainment has gotten too complex. I don't want to work this hard to watch tv. Half the time, I'm just looking for something watch (barring sports, racing ) being on. Anything else I record. I don't watch any of the just streaming content.

As Vince said, Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't

So I'm not going to mess w/ any of that, until I absolutely have to. I fear one day I'll have to have 10 different sports services just to watch racing, football, baseball, hockey, etc.

But, it is the way. If Disney is going to have their own streaming, I hope they pipe in some of the resort stuff they show, more info about the parks, etc.

Yeah, it isn't worth the effort to me. I don't even own a television. There's so much more to do in life that is way better than dealing with this.

Cinderelley;2505702 wrote: Yeah, it isn't worth the effort to me. I don't even own a television. There's so much more to do in life that is way better than dealing with this.

This is the logical conclusion of all this madness. The more difficult it becomes, the less money everybody gets to make. People either go outside of the legal channels or they walk away completely. When people get accustomed to not watching your content at all, you're done.

I still have my bundled service (cable/ internet/ TV) simply because I don't want to mess with anything else. I do have Netflix streaming, but we rarely watch it, so I'm thinking of canning it. My daughter and her family just got a TV (after seven years of marriage) because they got a free one with some offer they did. They only have Amazon streaming.
Bottom line (at least the way I see it) is that the providers got themselves into this mess by gouging the consumer, and now they are WAY overestimating that same consumer's loyalty to their content. Most people I know just don't care enough to jump through the hoops anymore. I keep my current situation just because it's easy...not because I'd die if I lost any of it. You can be sure that I'm not going to go out of my way to sign up for special streaming services for certain content. For me, it's not about money, it's about hassle...

Stu29573;2505750 wrote: I still have my bundled service (cable/ internet/ TV) simply because I don't want to mess with anything else. I do have Netflix streaming, but we rarely watch it, so I'm thinking of canning it. My daughter and her family just got a TV (after seven years of marriage) because they got a free one with some offer they did. They only have Amazon streaming.
Bottom line (at least the way I see it) is that the providers got themselves into this mess by gouging the consumer, and now they are WAY overestimating that same consumer's loyalty to their content. Most people I know just don't care enough to jump through the hoops anymore. I keep my current situation just because it's easy...not because I'd die if I lost any of it. You can be sure that I'm not going to go out of my way to sign up for special streaming services for certain content. For me, it's not about money, it's about hassle...

I think that's it. Who wants the hassle? I'm right there w/ you.