Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Movies Television

Disney Will Crack Down on Password Sharing in June (wsj.com) 38

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Disney said Thursday it planned to crack down on password sharing [non-paywalled link] for its streaming services starting with a few countries in June before implementing a wider rollout in September. From a report: Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger unveiled the timeline to limit password sharing in a CNBC interview Thursday morning, a day after the company defeated activist Nelson Peltz in a bruising proxy fight. Iger didn't say which countries would be first.

The company for months has said a crackdown was coming as it looks to cut costs and make Disney+ and Hulu profitable. Since Iger returned as CEO in 2022, the company has trimmed its streaming losses. Iger said the company is on track to have a profitable streaming business by the fourth quarter this year. "That's a huge, huge improvement," he said on CNBC. "Now what we have to do is turn it not just into a profitable business, into a growth business."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Disney Will Crack Down on Password Sharing in June More

Disney Will Crack Down on Password Sharing in June

Comments Filter:

  • What is so difficult? (Score:3)

    by ZERO1ZERO ( 948669 ) on Thursday April 04, 2024 @02:10PM (#64370242)
    Why dont these companies sell the user access via a password. Allow that password/account to connect simultaneously X number of times eg 1 connection or 5 connections. Charge more for more simultaneous connection allowance.

    done.

    • Re:What is so difficult? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Vrallis ( 33290 ) on Thursday April 04, 2024 @02:52PM (#64370392) Homepage

      Netflix had plans that allowed for, for example, 5 HD streams. They chose to send users back to pirating instead of just giving users the streams they paid for.

      Every one of these services doing this just saves my family money and keeps my Plex server busy.

    • 1. That make too much sense.
      2. Same reason why there isn't split screen multiplayer any longer. Why have one revenue stream, when you can have 4 instead.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by mysidia ( 191772 )

      .. Charge more for more simultaneous connection allowance. done.

      They already do that. For example, on Netflix your account has a certain number of "Screens" that can be used at the same time, and if you need more you pay for a higher plan.

      Password sharing crackdown is an Additional Limitation on top of the simultaneous usage limit.

      The companies want to make sure you ARENT time-sharing your Streaming account with remote friends, or people who are Not in the same building as you -- Even if you are Not

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kwalker ( 1383 )

      They already do to an extent, and they're ratcheting it down tighter because just selling simultaneous streams doesn't prevent people from sharing accounts.

      I refuse to give Disney any money, so I'll use Netflix (And their recent crackdown) as an example.

      Netflix's typical plan is 2-streams simultaneously, but unlimited devices. This makes sense to me, because my family has it installed/working on nine devices, (parents' phones, parents' tablets, two TVs, two laptops, and a Playstation) but we almost never ha

  • doubt it would help much (Score:3)

    by Osgeld ( 1900440 ) on Thursday April 04, 2024 @02:16PM (#64370260)

    Unless your a super nerd that creams their pants anytime some one mentions marvel or star wars, there's not really a lot to watch. Even my little kids didn't find that much on it so we dropped it months ago

    • For you. In the USA it seems Disney+ has only Disney shows. Whereas elsewhere there's quite an extensive 20th Century Fox catalogue, along with Star. It may be for kids in the USA, but it's for housewives elsewhere. By the way did you know Grey's Anatomy has 21 seasons...

    • Likewise, we dropped it after 2 years of free service because it hadn't ever really got used all that much.

      By coincidence, I've just got a new phone contract and I wasn't allowed to checkout without selecting a free trial of something I didn't really want, so we've got another 6 months of free Disney+ - just in case there's anything to watch on it now. In fairness, the kids are a bit older, so maybe they'll watch some Simpsons or something now - you know the stuff Disney bought rather than any of the cruft

  • And in other news..... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Indy1 ( 99447 ) on Thursday April 04, 2024 @02:18PM (#64370278)

    Bittorrent traffic increases by 87% the same month. Hollywood lawyers are baffled as to why.

  • "You might like this too!" is about the only thing streaming offers these days. I have my easynews, RADARR/SONARR NZBgeek, etc along with my subscriptions. Lemme count what I have... Netflix HBOMax Amazon (but came with prime so...) Hulu Disney Peacock I might have some others, but at this point I'm really starting to not see the value of paying over $100@mo for streaming channels which at this point don't have much I want to watch, or in the case of Amazon/Hulu I have to pay an extra $5@mo to not have

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Vrallis ( 33290 )

      At this point I really want a monopoly crackdown on Amazon just to make them split Prime into shipping and video as separate products. I'll happy pay for Prime shipping. I have no interest in their crappy video services any longer.

      • They basically did this already, just not in the way anyone actually wanted. The basic level Prime subscription has obnoxious ads, and you've gotta pay more for the ad-free tier if you actually want to watch uninterrupted streaming.

  • I for one, welcome a post-Disney era of entertainment.

    • When Netflix cracked down on streaming, they actually added subs. Turns out this works, otherwise streaming companies wouldn't be doing it.

      My guess is the average person just wants to plop their kids down in front of the idiot box and have it just work, and they'd rather pay money than figure out how to sail the high seas. Can't say I entirely blame them, I'm not entirely sure that I've broken even on the cost of hard drives for both the NAS and the backups. Of course, I mostly set up my own media server

  • Maybe they should also stop removing its own content, yeah, a series like Willow didn't hit a certain expected target, but why remove so the only way to watch it is through illegal downloads. I can't imagine how they can recoup money by not showing it, other then some deal where they have to pay indefinitely to people for every viewing. Also, it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't what people expected, too woke again. Maybe next time, try not to be so f-ing woke and concentrate on the story instead if trying to

  • Could Hulu get worse at this? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by GotNoRice ( 7207988 ) on Thursday April 04, 2024 @03:10PM (#64370430)
    I use Hulu and have *never* shared my password with anyone, ever. Yet I'm constantly roadblocked from doing basic things with my service due to their obnoxious restrictions. One example was when I was evaluating Starlink. Of course one of the main things I wanted to test was it's streaming performance. Yet each time I switched my internet connection, Hulu considered that to be "changing my home location" and claimed that I could only do that a maximum of 4 times per year. And then when I was on Starlink, all of a sudden Hulu started giving me local stations from a completely different metro area, which was because my Starlink Internet was using a ground station that was farther away at that time. I had to call them again to get that fixed, and they had the audacity to claim that they were doing me a "one time favor" by letting me "switch my home location again" since I had used up my 4 for the year already... And during all of this, not only was I not trying to use it at more than one location, I wasn't even trying to use it on more than one TV... And now they are "cracking down"?
    • Sounds like you are letting them bend you over and fcuk you in the arse. Why? Stop paying them and stop using their shitty service. You dont need it. It wastes your time.
      • I agree 100%, but, I'm not the one who actually uses it. I'm just the one who makes sure it works properly.
    • Hulu on my iPad continuously says "Hmm, something happened, you need to logout and login again". Once upon a time, various apps let you remotely control their app on another linked account... that's a distant memory. Spotify is losing universal volume control and becoming more like Tidal. Also, Spotify's app plain doesn't work on Apple TV. Enshitification is getting worse.

  • All streaming services should have been blocking pasword sharing from day 1 of their launches if it's prohibited to share passwords in the T&C's. Instead, it seems they launch with no blocking, people share passwords to save money, in some comical cases the streaming services bizarrely encourage people to do so (Netflix anyone?) and then, years after launch, they wonder why there's a backlash when they finally get around to blocking password sharing (because of huge losses thanks to...yep, password shar

  • Like out of town often? :(

    • Which is by the way one of the key assets streaming has over cable. You can take it along with you.

      Frankly, I just keep streaming from wherever the hell I am. If they complain, I cancel my subscription, simple as that. It's not like I'm dependent on them.

      • Yep. Fuck cable and any app that demands service in a specific single location that's difficult to change. Also, fuck companies lacking customer service where they are meat robots reading a script.
  • Poor them. Let them enshitify themselves into being an even larger cliché, soulless megacorp.

Slashdot Top Deals

Real Users know your home telephone number.

Close