Hannah Hopkins
Feb 08, 2024
Disney will officially start a crack down on password-sharing this summer as Disney's chief financial officer (CFO) Hugh Johnston announced that Disney Plus accounts suspected of improper sharing will be given the option to sign up for their own subscription.
Additionally, Disney will allow account holders to add individuals outside their household for an extra fee, although the specific cost has not been disclosed. Both Disney Plus and Hulu have recently updated their terms of service to stop sharing subscriptions with individuals outside the household.
“We want to reach as large an audience as possible with our outstanding content,” Johnston said. “We’re looking forward to rolling out this new functionality to improve the overall customer experience and grow our subscriber base.”
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He added that “paid sharing is an opportunity for us. It’s one that our competitor is obviously taking advantage of, and one that sits in front of us ... We’ve got some very specific actions that we’re taking in the next couple of months.”
According to The Verge, the new terms went into effect for new subscribers on January 25th and will be applied to existing members on March 14th. Netflix has already introduced a paid sharing model, where subscribers can pay an extra $7.99 per month to include someone who lives outside their household.
Meanwhile, Disney Plus is preparing to launch a combined app with Hulu in March, following a beta release last year. Disney's recent earnings report also showed that Disney Plus lost 1.3 million subscribers in the US and Canada due to last year's price increases, while Hulu gained 1.2 million new members.
On Tuesday, Disney-owned ESPN announced its intention to introduce a new live sports streaming service in collaboration with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. The service, which has not yet been named, is set to launch in the fall and will also be accessible to subscribers of the Disney Plus bundle, which includes Hulu and ESPN Plus.
This announcement comes at a time when Disney is preparing to launch a direct-to-consumer version of ESPN in August 2025, hinting at the departure from traditional pay TV due to a decline in viewership and a shrinking advertising market.
