Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, will launch on November 12th for $6.99 a month or $69.99 per year, the company confirmed on Thursday. Disney’s Kevin Mayer, head of the company’s direct-to-consumer unit, gave investors their first look at the Disney+ app and interface. Similar to Netflix, Disney+ users are greeted by rows of recommended content, new TV series or movies added to the platform, and genres. Unlike Netflix, there are five hubs that sit at the top of the page, which will bring users to designated areas for Disney’s various franchises: Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Disney+ will be available to stream through smart TVs, web browsers, and on tablets, mobile devices, and game consoles, according to Mayer. The streaming service has already secured deals with Roku and Sony for availability on their respective platforms. Disney+ subscribers will be able to set up individual profiles for those they live with; parental controls will automatically be applied for child profiles. All Disney+ content will be available for offline download, and the company is promising 4K HDR presentation where applicable on TVs. Here’s an example showcasing what a specific hub looks like using the first Disney hub. Mayer also announced a couple of new projects coming to Disney+, including confirming that Marvel was working on a series based on Avengers characters, Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). Falcon and Winter Soldier joins a number of series currently in development, including two confirmed live-action projects from Marvel Studios focusing on Loki and Hawkeye, a Monsters, Inc. show, a High School Musical show, and a Star Wars series focusing on a bounty hunter, called The Mandalorian. Disney will also end its vault program in time for Disney+, according to a previous investors call. The vault program essentially made it impossible to buy a movie until it was released for a limited time. Now, all movies will be available to stream exclusively on Disney+, according to Iger. The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that Disney would launch its streaming service with “500 films from the Disney library ... in addition to around 7,000 episodes of Disney TV.” Netflix had 4,335 movies and 1,197 TV series in 2016. Iger told investors in November 2017 that they were planning to “walk, not run” into streaming, but they would ramp up production on original series and films over time. Disney+ is the company’s big push into streaming to take on competition from Netflix, Amazon, and Apple. The company also has a majority stake in Hulu following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Disney also confirmed that it would “likely” combine subscriptions for Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.
The Disney+ streaming service is to launch in the US on 12 November for a fee of $6.99 per month or $69.99 a year. Users will be able to log in to a Netflix-like app that will offer rows of recommended content, different genres and recently added TV shows and movies, as well as access to films from the company's various franchises including Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel. An earlier report suggested that the service would launch with an offering of 500 films from Disney's library.