BURBANK – There may be millions fewer people in their theme parks right now, but The Walt Disney Company said Friday it now has more than 137 million streaming subscribers – and it’s about to kick growth of its direct-to-consumer business into overdrive.
“The tremendous success we’ve achieved across our unique portfolio of streaming services, with more than 137 million subscriptions worldwide, has bolstered our confidence in our acceleration toward a DTC-first business model,” said CEO Bob Chapek (pictured), during the company’s investor day. That number includes Disney+ (86.8 million subscribers), ESPN+ (11.5 million) and Hulu (38.8 million) subscribers as of December 2nd.
The Walt Disney Company, thanks to all this growth, has revised its guidance way up, saying it now expects its streaming services to hit 300-350 million total subscriptions by fiscal 2024, driven primarily by a significant increase in content output.
Disney+ alone is now targeting to release more than 100 titles per year. “Over the next few years, Disney+ plans to release approximately 10 Star Wars series and 10 Marvel series, as well as 15 Disney live action, Disney Animation, and Pixar series, as well as 15 Disney live action, Disney Animation, and Pixar features — all in addition to the premium content set to premiere in theatres or on linear channels before coming to the streaming service,” reads the release.
Prices, however, are going up. Beginning March 26th, Disney+ will be priced in the U.S. at $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year, while the Disney Bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will be priced at $13.99 per month. This bundle is only available in the U.S. The price for Disney+ in Canada will also be going up to $11.99 as of February 23 (or $119.99/year), up from $8.99, a rather large 33% increase, but as you’ll read below, the content available will also expand on that day.
Disney also announced a new agreement with Comcast which will bring Disney+ and ESPN+ experiences to Comcast X1 set-top boxes and Flex platforms in the first quarter of 2021, joining Hulu which became available on these platforms in Spring 2020.
This is good news for Shaw, Rogers and Videotron, each of whom licence Comcast’s X1 platform in Canada for their TV subscribers and each are anxious to be able to offer Disney+ to their BlueCurve, Ignite TV and Helix customers. There was nothing said during the investors day about when Disney+ might be coming to set top boxes in Canada.
While many assumed Disney would eventually bring Hulu to Canada, the company will instead be using a new brand, Star, to deliver Disney Television Studios, FX, 20th Century Studios, 20th Television, Touchstone and other content, enhanced by the addition of local programming from the regions where available, to international markets, including Canada.
“Building on the successful launch of Disney+ Hotstar in India and Indonesia,” says the release, Disney will launch Star, included as part 
of Disney+ in select international markets, including Canada. On February 23rd, Canadian Disney+ customers will have a new Star tile stuffed with new content to explore (pictured).
Star will also launch in Europe and several other international markets on February 23, 2021 as a fully integrated part of Disney+, with its own branded tile and a new collection of general entertainment series, movies, documentaries, local content and more that will double the content catalog available to Disney+ subscribers, reads the company’s announcement. In Continental Europe, Star will offer approximately 50 local originals each year, by the end of 2024. The company did not say how many Canadian originals might be found by clicking on the Star tile in February, or by 2024.
It’s not yet known how Star will influence content deals the U.S. media company has with Canadian broadcasters (for example, Rogers offers Disney’s FX content though its streaming portal fxnowcanada). We’ll be asking about that this week.
In Latin America Star+ will be a standalone streaming service with local original productions, and an array of live sports from ESPN, including soccer leagues, grand slam tennis, and more. Star+ will launch in June 2021 as a stand-alone service for $7.50 per month (or the local equivalent), or as part of a bundle with Disney+ for $9 per month (or the local equivalent).
UPDATE: “We don’t anticipate the announcement has any implications on our current roster of Hulu programs,” a Bell spokesperson told Cartt.ca in response to our email.
“There are no changes to FX, FXX, or FX NOW in Canada,” said a Rogers spokesperson.
Corus has yet to respond to our query.
