Disney+ today officially launched in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria.
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The premium streaming service is accessible via web browser, on Amazon Fire devices, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV (4K or HD), iOS devices, Android, Google Chromecast, Xbox One, PS4, and smart TVs from LG, Sony, Samsung, and Vizio. You can download the iPhone and iPad apps here.
The subscription price in the U.K. and across Europe is £5.99/€6.99 per month, or £59.99/€69.99 for an annual subscription.
Over 500 feature films and over 7,500 shows are available on the service including new original content like the critically acclaimed "The Mandalorian" and "The World According To Jeff Goldblum," along with timeless classics like "Lady and the Tramp," "Star Wars," and the entire Pixar library.
Disney+ has been available in the U.S. for a while now, but subscribers should note that there will be some content differences in the European offering because of licensing issues.
Due to the anticipated high load on the continent's broadband infrastructure because of a surge in remote working, Disney+ is following other digital video services by streaming at an intentionally lowered bitrate, so picture quality won't be as good as some viewers will be expecting.
It's unclear how long Disney intends to limit video quality, but Netflix said last Thursday that it plans to implement similar measures for 30 days, following a request from the European Union.
The launch of Disney+ has been delayed in France by two weeks on request of the French government – Disney+ will now launch in the country the week of April 7.
Disney says the service will launch later this summer in additional Western Europe markets, including Belgium, the Nordics, and Portugal. Disney+ has been available in the Netherlands since September, when it launched there as a pilot trial.
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Clearly to stop Star Wars fans from signing up for a month and then cancelling?Just checked and can confirm. Right now only the first 2 episodes are there.
Or just using the 7 day free trial and watching it allClearly to stop Star Wars fans from signing up for a month and then cancelling?
The timing couldn't have been any more perfect.
Your assumption’s incorrect. I’m European and have been eagerly awaiting the UK launch of Disney+ so I can watch this show.Yeah, it's safe to assume that every European wanting to see that show already has.
I’d rather be an honest consumer of content and prefer to pay for things that have value to me.
Yep, not everyone is a thieving scumbag. Just wish we didn’t have this drop in quality right now as it’s definitely having more of an impact on the image quality than it is on the internet infrastructure.Your assumption’s incorrect. I’m European and have been eagerly awaiting the UK launch of Disney+ so I can watch this show.
I’d rather be an honest consumer of content and prefer to pay for things that have value to me.
The UK actually has more Marvel movies than the US.The US got, for example, some Marvel movies and not others. That’s all down to pre-existing licensing agreements - when they expire they’ll all end up on Disney+. (I went through a whole lot of the Disney+ catalog couple days after it released here, and favorited anything that interested me - a surprising number of them had availability dates that were many months away - some a year or more IIRC.)
Presumably some of the same thing is going on in the UK and Europe - if they signed a 3 year contract for UK licensing rights for a particular movie with some UK company, 2 years ago, then they can’t offer it for streaming there for another year - unless they can renegotiate the contract, and said company might demand crazily much more money for that, or may simply refuse to renegotiate.
They're holding back on Noelle because it's a Christmas film rather than other contracts.
Frozen 2 isn't coming until July though, due to the existing agreements with Sky. Unclear what will happen with Onward.