Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Disney’s forthcoming streaming service will kill the Disney Vault
It looks like the Disney Vault is dead. For years, Disney relied on limited-time releases of its films on DVD and Blu-ray to encourage sales. The strategy worked. Consumers snapped up the titles to build out their home video collections. But in more recent years, DVDs have given way to streaming. For Disney, that’s an opportunity to resell its movie library all over again — this time, by way of subscription. At a shareholder meeting this week, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the company’s forthcoming Disney+ streaming service would soon include the “entire Disney motion picture library.”
He clarified that this meant it would house the movies that were previously locked up in the Disney Vault, Polygon reported on Thursday, following the meeting.
[...]Iger additionally noted that new films would arrive on Disney+ within a year of their release to theaters, and that films Disney is releasing this year — like Captain Marvel — will be included on the service, as well.
Disney+ will launch later this year, Iger also confirmed. But no exact date has been announced.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:19PM (2 children)
I doubt Mr. Iger actually meant this. The TechCrunch article implies that Disney+ will exclude movies that aren't even in the "Vault" rotation, such as a certain movie on which the Splash Mountain ride at Disney parks was based.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:45PM (1 child)
And for those of us who have no idea on which movie that particular amusement park ride was based, that would be...?
Offhand, I can't think of any movie that prominently features logs falling to water, never mind a Disney movie. Are you, perhaps, thinking of The Log Driver's Waltz [youtube.com]?
(Score: 3, Informative) by schad on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:51PM
It's Song of the South [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by goodie on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:30PM (2 children)
Disney will either rotate content or create bronze/silver/gold subs to max out the amount of cash they squeeze from their customers... They'll give you all their shit shows for free but the movies that were in the vault will be "only $9.99 per month" or something like that...
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:09PM (1 child)
all-your-kids-can-binge for $19.99/mo beats "we release a few major cartoons per year, plus a few Marvel, and distribution takes 40% margins"
(Score: 2) by goodie on Thursday March 14 2019, @12:14AM
It would if it's setup like that but it might not. The thing is that what Disney might (will) do, and which others will eventually do as well, is offer tiered packages, much like cable channel packages (not for number of devices/quality but for content). It's just a matter of time. Whatever Netflix had going on originally was probably as good as it gets. In Canada, they increased their rates _again_ while their offerings have not changed (in fact my kids would like to talk to them about removing Ninjago in March...). It's sad, but that's the way I see it. Make a Disney cartoon package, a Disney movie package, and a Marvel package. Or something of the sort. They could even have a PPV service for stuff from The Vault: "Around Christmas time, pay $5.99 to see Disney Christmas classics. But hurry, they're gone after Dec. 31!"
All it takes is enough subscriptions under the good deal, make sure they drop other services, and then switch it up. As content is exclusively purchased, you're captive anyway. I know the crowd here would raise their middle fingers and cancel, but for the average population, the various streaming services are probably starting to cost as much if not more than their cable packages used to cost them...
I hope I'm wrong :)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:09PM (3 children)
Download and save everything. We can share when we develop better torrents that can't be tracked down so easily.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:27PM
Don't worry, to account for this, they're upgrading from random copyright lawsuits to the recently legalized Copyright Hellfire Missile Drone.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:41PM (1 child)
This is Disney, it will be DRMd six ways from Sunday.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:02PM
And watermarked with your credit card number
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snow on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:26PM (5 children)
We've got Netflix, Hulu, Crave, Disney+, Amazon Prime, YouTube Premium, and I'm sure there are more I can't think of.
How many subscriptions do they expect people to actually pay for?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:34PM
You forgot pornhub? How many? As many as you want. Why would you pay for shit you don't want? How about a nice cup of fuck-you-reading-library-book? Kids like to read books, you know.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:39PM (1 child)
This is exactly a problem I was worried about a few years ago.
With a RoKu, I only plug one device into the TV. The subscription services are "channels" on the RoKu.
But . . . there is this trend for new services to have their own 'stick'. A Linux stick with custom software in the form of an HDMI dongle with a USB hind end port for power supply.
Now how many HDMI ports does a modern TV have again?
Why is it so difficult to break a heroine addiction?
(Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:09PM
Yeah, that pissed me off about Amazon. They refused to work with my Chromecast, so I had to buy a firestick to watch The Grand Tour on my TV.
Granted, I like the firestick more than my Chromecast now.
(Score: 3, Informative) by anotherblackhat on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:23PM
$250 a month.
I wish I were joking, but based on conversations with real network executives, they actually think most people will pay $250 a month for "premium" cable.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Mykl on Thursday March 14 2019, @01:20AM
I don't think this is worth wringing our hands too much over. The question you should be really asking is how many subscriptions at a time you are prepared to pay for. If there's a show that I want to watch on Hulu, I can cancel my Netflix subscription for a month and pick it up again the next month. Sure, it's a bit of a hassle, but there's no reason that you have to have all these services available simultaneously.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:37PM (8 children)
Bets on whether Song Of The South will be included in the new screaming stubscription service.
Why is it so difficult to break a heroine addiction?
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:43PM (2 children)
Only if I'm allowed to bet against.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:51PM (1 child)
But I was going to bet against! :-)
Why is it so difficult to break a heroine addiction?
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:44PM
Traitorous bluebird, did it land on your shoulder and tell you not to bet for also?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:09PM (4 children)
I'm too young to know that film. It it one of the racist Disney films?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:24PM (3 children)
Yes.
Then again, most of Disney's back catalogue is wrongthink now for one reason or other. "The Cat from Outer Space" would be panned for mansplaining. "Bambi" would take knocks for portraying heterosexual flirting as natural, without any LGBT representation. "The Smartest Man in the World" and "The Strongest Man in the World" would be rejected out of hand because men are not smart or strong.
It is a bit ironic that the discursive direction Disney has been taking as a company rather devalues the greater part of its assets and upends its brand's value proposition as "family friendly fare."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @08:10PM (1 child)
No, as it did at the box office Bambi [wikipedia.org] will take knocks because it portrays hunting in a bad light.
I doubt Sunflower will be in Fantasia. Will Jungle Book be unedited? Pocahantas will still be offensively stereotypical. And I'd bet they'll run the edited version of Arabian Nights in Aladdin.
There was great plenty to be offended about in Disney's catalog that wasn't wrongthink as much as outright racism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @09:52PM
Of course, "outright racism" is a kind of wrongthink too.
At least, it is nowadays.
I'm so old I remember the time when "outright racism" was mainstream and fully approved of by everyone who was anyone.
"But those days are gone, thank Deity", I hear you cry.
No, the pendulum is bound to swing back, just give it time.
Outright racism is not dead, but sleeping.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 13 2019, @08:28PM
There is another problem with Bambi. Actually the most oft cited problem. But it is easily remedied as we'll see . . .
The scene where . . .
This is easily fixed. Take the evil hunter's evil gun away. Hunters should be using firearms anyway. Notice how in ET they conveniently replaced the FIB agent's rifles with walkie talkies in the Digitally Remastered edition.
Why is it so difficult to break a heroine addiction?
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Wednesday March 13 2019, @08:35PM (1 child)
Including all the supremely racist material from the past?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @09:55PM
Racism has been out of fashion for so long, it's probably going to come back into fashion again soon.
You may not like the idea, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Friday March 15 2019, @06:48PM
This will not kill the vault at all. By releasing its movies only on tightly-DRM'ed streaming, Disney can refuse to release any material *ever* at high resolution, so that NOBODY has a legal copy except Disney, and we have to pay a rental every time we want to watch.