The streaming industry is actively changing (for the worse), but there isn’t much we can do about it. After Netflix printed out a blueprint detailing how to pull off a password-sharing crackdown, it was only a matter of time before the rest caught on. Disney, which has yet to turn a profit from its plus-named streamer, is — perhaps unsurprisingly — the next to jump on the bandwagon.
Disney’s finally cashing in
This shouldn’t come as a big surprise. The House of Mouse first began notifying customers in the US of their greedy hearts in February, and now it’s time to pony up.
In an interview with CNBC, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that the lemming-killing company (no, really) would be “launching [its] first real foray into password sharing,” in June of this year. The plan is to test the waters in “just a few countries,” during the initial rollout in June, before targeting a wider release in September this year.
“Netflix is the gold standard in streaming,” Iger said in the interview. “They’ve done a phenomenal job and a lot of different directions. I actually have very, very high regard for what they’ve accomplished. If we can only accomplish what they’ve accomplished, that would be great.”
Disney’s never tried to hide its contempt for password sharing, with rules in the books that discourage exactly that, though it was never one to enforce those rules too strongly. That won’t be the case much longer following the release of a new batch of subscription tiers to combat the issue.
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Those new tiers include a more expensive package that allows the main account holder to share their password without reprimand, though pricing details are still by-the-by, local or otherwise. Netflix charges an additional $8 per new account hopping onto the main one. Our guess? Disney will target a cheaper add-on price — roughly $5-6 — in an attempt to start earning back some of that massive expenditure.