- Disney is preparing to launch the Disney+ streaming service on November 12. These are the details about the new service.
On November 12, the Disney+ streaming service will be officially launching and there are a number of highly-anticipated shows and movies that will be available on the service. In fact, Disney+ will have 25 new TV shows and 10 new movies in the first year. Plus it will also feature an archive of programs, including the introduction of Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie aired in 1982.
One of the shows that will be available on the Disney+ platform is the first season of The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian is a show based on the Star Wars world, which was created by actor/director Jon Favreau. The Mandalorian is a show about a bounty hunter that looks similar to Boba Fett — who tracked Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back. Disney spent over $100 million creating The Mandalorian. To make the new shows and films next year, Disney is going to spend at least $1 billion.
“I’ve probably seen each episode of The Mandalorian three times,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger via Bloomberg Businessweek. “First, to give some notes. Second, to see the rough cut and the impact of the notes. And now, just recently, I watched all the final cuts so that I could be blown away by how it looks.”
Disney+ is considered one of the company’s biggest launches ever since Iger became CEO about 15 years ago. Iger oversaw the $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar in 2006, the $4.24 billion acquisition of Marvel in 2009, and the $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012. Plus Disney spent $71 billion buying 21st Century Fox this year.
Disney also acquired a controlling stake in streaming technology company BAMTech for $2.6 billion. This deal was the infrastructure foundation of the upcoming Disney+ streaming platform.
BAMTech is now known as Disney Streaming Services and it is based out of a former biscuit factory in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Kevin Mayer, chairman of direct-to-consumer and international at The Walt Disney Company oversees the streaming operation. BAMTech developed technology for compressing video to a size that is able to stream high-quality content efficiently.
Earlier this year, Disney hired Michael Cerda from Goldman Sachs as the VP of Product for Disney+. Cerda is overseeing the end-to-end Disney+ experience. Cerda reports to Disney Chief Product Officer Jerrell Jimerson. The co-lead executives for Disney+ are Disney Streaming Services president Michael Paull and The Walt Disney Studios president of marketing Ricky Strauss.
Some of the new content will include a film based on the Marvel character Loki. Pixar is creating Monsters at Work featuring Mike and Sulley of Monsters, Inc. (voiced by Billy Crystal and John Goodman).
Disney also gained control of the Hulu video streaming service with the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Hulu has about 25 million subscribers. Disney has a goal of hitting 90 million subscriptions for Disney+ by 2024. And between Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ by 2024, it is expected that Disney will have 160 million subscribers on all of its platforms total.
As a comparison, Netflix has 300 million subscribers. While Iger claims Disney+ is not a rival of Netflix, many analysts disagree.
Some of Disney+’s biggest competitors include Netflix, Apple, and Netflix. Apple launched a premium streaming service called Apple TV+ on November 1.
AT&T is also going to launch its own streaming service next year called HBO Max. HBO Max is going to feature shows like Friends and a new show from Mindy Kaling and director Ridley Scott.
Next year, Comcast is also releasing a streaming service called Peacock. The Peacock streaming service will feature NBC hit shows like The Office.
Iger told Bloomberg Businessweek that it was challenging for Disney to switch to streaming. For the last few decades, Disney was generated 40% of its profits from cable networks led by ESPN. But then in 2015, Disney started to feel the effects of consumers cutting their cable programs. ESPN especially suffered from the popularity of “cord-cutting.”
In 2016, Disney strongly considered buying Twitter. But then the decision was called off at the last minute on a Sunday morning. Iger told Bloomberg Businessweek that he feels relieved “every day” that the deal was called off after seeing Congress grill Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about misinformation being spread on their platforms.
When Disney had announced it was buying BAMTech to take on Netflix, the stock price began to rise. And then Rupert Murdoch approached Iger two weeks later to see if he would be interested to buy the majority of the 21st Century Fox’s entertainment properties.
When the Disney+ service launches, there will be 30 seasons of The Simpsons available in the app due to the 21st Century Fox deal. Other family-friend content like Fox’s The Sound of Music will also be on Disney+.
But Fox’s mature programming like Family Guy and the Deadpool films will continue to be on Hulu. In March 2020, FX is also going to release its whole show archive on Hulu. And FX is going to produce original programming for Hulu as well. This was revealed by Iger during the Q4 earnings call this past week.
The collaboration between the Hulu and FX content will be called “FX on Hulu” and it will have all seasons of more than 40 FX series. Four new titles will be created in 2020, including Devs starring Nick Offerman, Misses America starring Cate Blanchett, The Teacher starring Kate Mara, and The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow.
When Disney+ launches, The Mandalorian will be prominently featured along with a show inspired by High School Musical. The Marvel programming featuring Hawkeye and Loki will arrive about a year later. Plus Disney is also going to release a new Lizzie McGuire series featuring Hilary Duff reprising the lead role.
If you are interested in Disney+, you can pre-order and start streaming on November 12, 2019. You can also potentially save some money by subscribing for $69.99 per year rather than $6.99 per month. Verizon Unlimited subscribers get 1 year of Disney+ for free.
The service also supports unlimited downloads on up to 10 devices. And you can stream 4 different shows on 4 different devices at once with select titles in 4K.
