Disney+ / Hulu / Etc...+ to rein in Password Sharing

[Yespage]

https://www.thestreet.com/technology/disney-hulu-and-espn-are-making-a-major-change-subscribers-will-hate

So this is what Disney said they were going to do regarding password sharing in their email.
*something unspecific*

Their email did include a link to the T&C... seriously!

How will this impact subscribers? Who knows. It depends on how they manage it. But I don't think they'll do as well as Netflix. Disney+ is much more niche than Netflix.

 

[Juan]

It is their problem to deal with

 

[meStevo]

Yup, and they're dealing with it.

 

[Yespage]

Yup, and they're dealing with it.

*somehow*

Personally, I pay for the services I use and have other people borrowing it. This might make me think twice about them though. It'd be cheaper to buy the 4Ks at the rate they release the Marvel series.

 

[ncted]

I have no problem with them cracking down on password sharing. Why should twelve people across seven states pay the same for these services as I pay for my wife and me?

 

[Bruce]

It'd be cheaper to buy the 4Ks at the rate they release the Marvel series.

Every major studio are making plans to get out of Physical Media, including who I work for, looking at about 4 years at the most, just not enough profit in it now, those few profits they make, get less and less every year.

Sony and the like no longer design new players, Best Buy dropped them from stores and studios have already pulled out of markets like Australia.

Now, everyone knows I love streaming, but I still buy discs, especially 4K Discs, they are superior to the transfers on Vudu, slighter better then Movies Anywhere ( higher bit rates).

 

[Bruce]

I have no problem with them cracking down on password sharing. Why should twelve people across seven states pay the same for these services as I pay for my wife and me?

Every time I post that, II feel like the whole forum comes down on me ( look at the Netflix thread about this subject).

But people use the excuse of doing so because these are big time actors/corporations, they can afford it.

But no one understands how much goes into a production and how many work on it, including plenty that do not come close to what the main actors receive.

 

[Yespage]

I have no problem with them cracking down on password sharing. Why should twelve people across seven states pay the same for these services as I pay for my wife and me?

I was surprised how hard of an argument it was as a late Gen X'er to explain this to Gen Y'ers. I think Napster really normalized this sort of behavior among them. Though I know it isn't exclusive to younger people.

 

[ncted]

Every time I post that, II feel like the whole forum comes down on me ( look at the Netflix thread about this subject).

But people use the excuse of doing so because these are big time actors/corporations, they can afford it.

But no one understands how much goes into a production and how many work on it, including plenty that do not come close to what the main actors receive.

The complaint I see the most often is the "my kids at college" one. Which, ok fine, I get where they are coming from, except, when I was in college, I didn't get to share my parents' cable service. I had to pay for my own. Do I wish that hadn't been the case? Sure, but that isn't the way it worked then, and apparently not the way it is going to work now.

 

[Bruce]

The complaint I see the most often is the "my kids at college" one. Which, ok fine, I get where they are coming from, except, when I was in college, I didn't get to share my parents' cable service. I had to pay for my own. Do I wish that hadn't been the case? Sure, but that isn't the way it worked then, and apparently not the way it is going to work now.

When I left the Army, my wife and I shared a Apartment that first year ( bought our first house the year later), while I was a freshman, she was already Teaching, so we had Cable ( all there was of course).

But when my son went in 2008, cable was still needed along with Broadband, daughter in 2013, she only had broadband, Netflix and YouTube ( and happy with that), but I did pay for the separate subscription.

I cannot remember if Cable/Broadband was included in her dorm, if so, she never hooked up the box.

 

[savarese04]

The complaint I see the most often is the "my kids at college" one. Which, ok fine, I get where they are coming from, except, when I was in college, I didn't get to share my parents' cable service. I had to pay for my own. Do I wish that hadn't been the case? Sure, but that isn't the way it worked then, and apparently not the way it is going to work now.

also many services today give significant discounts when you sign up with or use a .edu address

 

[ncted]

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/disney-dis-q2-earnings-report-2024-300990de?mod=hp_lead_pos6

The most interesting thing I found from the article:

Excluding sports, Disney’s streaming business earned a profit of $47 million for the quarter.

Once again, sports are both the savior and death of TV. Just like with traditional TV, sports are going to drive up the cost of streaming to the point that people aren't going to want to pay for it anymore.

 

[MartyDe]

Another link if you get WSJ paywall.

Disney+ & Hulu Become Profitable For The First Time Ever & Disney+ Added 6 Million Subscribers | Cord Cutters News

For the first time, Disney+ and Hulu became profitable in the second quarter of 2024. Disney+ and Hulu ended the quarter with a $47 million profit. However, when combined with ESPN+, the business lost $18 million in the quarter. Disney says its streaming business with ESPN+ will become...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[Yespage]

The profitability of (or lack there of) these services always seemed like a shell game. I don't see how ESPN+ makes "money" in any sense of the word that is credible, other than the cost to distribute the signal is less than the revenue from distribution. My problem is where is the cost of the programming being saddled?

The trouble with Disney+ is that their content is limited. It has a lot of popular stuff, but it doesn't take long for the consumer to become saturated with the content. Probably a reason to stop selling physical media to force people to have to stream.

 

[Bruce]

Another link if you get WSJ paywall.

Disney+ & Hulu Become Profitable For The First Time Ever & Disney+ Added 6 Million Subscribers | Cord Cutters News

For the first time, Disney+ and Hulu became profitable in the second quarter of 2024. Disney+ and Hulu ended the quarter with a $47 million profit. However, when combined with ESPN+, the business lost $18 million in the quarter. Disney says its streaming business with ESPN+ will become...

cordcuttersnews.com

As I have posted here so many times, 2024-2025 are major transition years, where certain streaming services become profitable , certain ones will stop services or merge with another.

Then in those 2 years, there will be no question that the end is near for Cable/Satellite Video services, the supporters of those keep saying that cord cutting will slow down, still has not happened, Cable/Satellite lost 7 Million subs in 2023, up from 2022, 6 Million, now in 2024, just 3 providers, Comcast, Charter and Fios lost a million already ( Fubo lost over 100,000 also).

Streaming Services that will make it
Netflix ‘duh

All of Disney except Hulu Live.

Paramount+ with Showtime - I know they are for sale, which can change things, but this is a service that already has 71 million subscribers and is, maybe, just a reporting quarter or two from being profitable , just needs a price increase and a few more subscribers, based on what was reported last quarter.

YouTube TV the only future Paid Live TV has, in just 7 years, overtaken Dish Network, a service that has been providing service for 28 years, should overtake the combined Dish plus Sling sub numbers, by the end of the year, should overtake all of DirecTV, next year, possibly Spectrum and Comcast, but for sure by 2026, will become the number one provider.


Dead Meat
AMC+ just stop now and start selling the content to Netflix again

All of the other Live Paid TV Services, it is over, YTTV has won, it has almost the same amount of subscribers then all of them combined (Hulu Live, Sling, Fubo, estimated number of DirecTV streaming, Philo).

Question is still out
Peacock I really do not understand this service, with the recent NBA offer, seems like they are just tossing money at the wall to see what will stick, Universal has such a deep catalog , which they could use to make new series from, much like what Paramount has done with Star Trek, yet it seems like it wants to be a lessor version of ESPN with extra drama shows that do not last more then a season.

MAX First Quarter is out Thursday, will give us an idea where things are.
Their debt and money problems are well known, seems like some in the press want to paper over how things really are, for example, they will say Dune 2 is a big hit, no it was not, it cost $195 Million to make, over another $100 Million in Marketing, so it needed to make $800 Million at least to break even, Box Office was, as of now, $708 Million, will it make a slight profit, I would say yes, definitely not a big hit based on the costs and it is already on sale via digital and due on Max within the next 2 weeks.

Plus the fact that Warner only gets 20% of their share from the Box Office, Legendary gets 80%, the same problems exists for the new Godzilla movie, budget and marketing was over $200 Million, has made $548 Million, supposed to go digital next week.

Apple TV+ I really love this service, but it losses so much money, I know Apple can afford it, but sooner or later, they will come to their senses and say we need to start making money with it.

Amazon Prime TV They have finally decided it is time for the service to make some money, what I see Apple doing in the next few years,

 

[Jimbo]

As I have posted here so many times, 2024-2025 are major transition years, where certain streaming services become profitable , certain ones will stop services or merge with another.

Then in those 2 years, there will be no question that the end is near for Cable/Satellite Video services, the supporters of those keep saying that cord cutting will slow down, still has not happened, Cable/Satellite lost 7 Million subs in 2023, up from 2022, 6 Million, now in 2024, just 3 providers, Comcast, Charter and Fios lost a million already ( Fubo lost over 100,000 also).

Streaming Services that will make it
Netflix ‘duh

All of Disney except Hulu Live.

Paramount+ with Showtime - I know they are for sale, which can change things, but this is a service that already has 71 million subscribers and is, maybe, just a reporting quarter or two from being profitable , just needs a price increase and a few more subscribers, based on what was reported last quarter.

YouTube TV the only future Paid Live TV has, in just 7 years, overtaken Dish Network, a service that has been providing service for 28 years, should overtake the combined Dish plus Sling sub numbers, by the end of the year, should overtake all of DirecTV, next year, possibly Spectrum and Comcast, but for sure by 2026, will become the number one provider.


Dead Meat
AMC+ just stop now and start selling the content to Netflix again

All of the other Live Paid TV Services, it is over, YTTV has won, it has almost the same amount of subscribers then all of them combined (Hulu Live, Sling, Fubo, estimated number of DirecTV streaming, Philo).

Question is still out
Peacock I really do not understand this service, with the recent NBA offer, seems like they are just tossing money at the wall to see what will stick, Universal has such a deep catalog , which they could use to make new series from, much like what Paramount has done with Star Trek, yet it seems like it wants to be a lessor version of ESPN with extra drama shows that do not last more then a season.

MAX First Quarter is out Thursday, will give us an idea where things are.
Their debt and money problems are well known, seems like some in the press want to paper over how things really are, for example, they will say Dune 2 is a big hit, no it was not, it cost $195 Million to make, over another $100 Million in Marketing, so it needed to make $800 Million at least to break even, Box Office was, as of now, $708 Million, will it make a slight profit, I would say yes, definitely not a big hit based on the costs and it is already on sale via digital and due on Max within the next 2 weeks.

Plus the fact that Warner only gets 20% of their share from the Box Office, Legendary gets 80%, the same problems exists for the new Godzilla movie, budget and marketing was over $200 Million, has made $548 Million, supposed to go digital next week.

Apple TV+ I really love this service, but it losses so much money, I know Apple can afford it, but sooner or later, they will come to their senses and say we need to start making money with it.

Amazon Prime TV They have finally decided it is time for the service to make some money, what I see Apple doing in the next few years,

Have you noticed what your saying here ....

You said how profitable they will become ... which is great, but at the same time your showing those that have been on a downward spiral, ... you (not you personally) have now about 30+ different Streaming services (probably many many more) however, I would think that they will either merge and become a bunch of larger companies or die off.

Sat has been up and running a very solid business for what, 30 years now ...
Let us know when the same Streaming companies can say that ....

 

[ncted]

Apple TV+ I really love this service, but it losses so much money, I know Apple can afford it, but sooner or later, they will come to their senses and say we need to start making money with it.

Insiders tell me Apple is playing a very long game with the TV service -- to the point that they aren't even calculating profitability yet. Well, I am sure some accountant is, but the execs don't even want to be told. They are also very interested in overall profitability of their services division and not focused on any one service. They want to sell Apple One subscriptions way more than they want to sell individual TV+, Music, iCloud, Fitness+, etc. because of how much stickier the bundle subscribers are. They are giving themselves a lot of runway to grow that.

Edit:

For the latest quarter, almost $24 billion in Services revenue. For the same period the cost of sales for services was only $6 billion. Total operating expenses for the whole company was only $14 billion. I can see why Apple isn't concerned about the "profitabilty" of TV+.

 

[AZ.]

25/26 is the year they start to jack up the prices. What could be better eliminate the middle man, control all the content, and the consumer will pay. They always pay the price for Corporate greed!

Then by 2030, the prices will be the same as they are now with regular(old fashion delivery) cable /satellite.

 

[Bruce]

The profitability of (or lack there of) these services always seemed like a shell game.

It takes time to make a profit, for example, it had taken 6 years for both DirecTV and Netflix to have their first profitable quarter ( Netflix had a few unprofitable quarters after that, look at them now), Dish Network and Amazon 9 years.

Now today, look at where Netflix and Amazon are, then look at DirecTV, whose profits are shrinking every quarter because of sub loss (now over 15 Million have left and growing) and Dish Network, who has had two unprofitable quarters in a row, who’s only hope is if someone loans a lot of money, about $15-20 Billion to cover the next 3 years or invests in the company.

Disney+ did it in 5 Years.

I don't see how ESPN+ makes "money" in any sense of the word that is credible, other than the cost to distribute the signal is less than the revenue from distribution.

ESPN+ will soon be going away, first it will be combined with the new service from Disney, Warner and Fox, the Sports centric Live Channel streaming service.

Then when ESPN launches their streaming service, ESPN+ will be combined with that.

My problem is where is the cost of the programming being saddled?

That will soon be changed , the production costs will be spread amongst all of them.

Instead of having the costs of streaming content in one house, Broadcast/Cable Channels in another and then licensing fees also.

They will combine all of them together to share the costs and shows.

For example, shows will appear on the paid service first, then on the channels second.

We are already at the point where some Cable Channels are no longer producing new content, because they are not taking in enough $$$, Broadcast Networks is about two years away.

Some are already doing this, FX’s budget has been combined with Hulu, that is why new shows premiere same day, on the Cable Channel in 720P, on Hulu in 4K.

Sports rights are also spread out over all of the companies, streaming and broadcasting.

And yes, this will result in less content, which will also help keep costs down.

The trouble with Disney+ is that their content is limited. It has a lot of popular stuff, but it doesn't take long for the consumer to become saturated with the content.

Which is why they have been buying so much, Fox, Star Wars, Marvel, etc.

If it was just plain old Disney, I agree, but with the rest, there is plenty of other content, for example on Disney+, we still have two new Live Action Star Wars and two for Marvel, plus all new movies that are at theaters this year, for example the new Planet of the Apes and Alien ( both Fox properties) will be on about 3 months after theaters.

Probably a reason to stop selling physical media to force people to have to stream.

All studios, not just Disney, is planning this.

Yes they will license more to the smaller companies, like Arrow and Shout, but since no new players are being designed and soon production will stop on building, the industry will die out over time, just like VHS and Laserdiscs.

Also does not help the only place to purchase will soon be online, stops all impulse buys at the physical stores.

 

[MartyDe]

Bruce, why do you think HULU live will fail? Price? youtube competition?