Disney Will Crack Down on Password Sharing in June (wsj.com) 38
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."
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."
What is so difficult? (Score:3)
done.
Re:What is so difficult? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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2. Same reason why there isn't split screen multiplayer any longer. Why have one revenue stream, when you can have 4 instead.
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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
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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
Re: What is so difficult? (Score:2)
doubt it would help much (Score:3)
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
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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...
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no, we stopped watching it after the whole brain tumor thing
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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)
Bittorrent traffic increases by 87% the same month. Hollywood lawyers are baffled as to why.
Re:And in other news..... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not hard for Hollywood lawyers to be baffled. Apparently they thought that the Tasmanian Devil was invented by Disney and not a real animal. [abovethelaw.com]
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The point remains but the word "Disney" isn't even on the page you linked. That was Warner Bros
My mistake. I had "Disney" fixed in my mind.
"You might like this too!" (Score:2)
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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.
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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.
Re: "You might like this too!" (Score:2)
They also just went ahead and ruined prime shipping, which usually takes five days to get to me. Now there is no reason to have prime.
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Weird. Never seen a single ad on Amazon Prime Video.
Maybe adblockers work on them too...
I'm hoping we are witnessing the end of Disney. (Score:2)
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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
Stop removing own content (Score:2, Redundant)
Re: Stop removing own content (Score:2)
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So, what you're saying is that you didn't really like it but you watched it anyway, and now you're kind of miffed that you can't re-watch it? That sounds familiar. [youtu.be]
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Could Hulu get worse at this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Could Hulu get worse at this? (Score:2)
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Should have been bloçking from day 1... (Score:2)
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
Wha about those who aren't always at home? (Score:2)
Like out of town often? :(
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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.
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Disney can pound salt (Score:2)