Julia Alexander, The Verge:
Disney will offer a bundle package of its three streaming services — Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — for $12.99 a month starting on November 12th, the company announced today.
Bob Igor, Disney CEO, during yesterday’s investor call:
The streaming services is likely to be available through “Amazon, Apple, and other distributors,” according to Iger. Disney has not finalized any deals with the aforementioned companies, but told investors “we feel it’s important for us to achieve scale quickly, and we think it’s going to be an important part of that. They’re all interested in distributing the product.”
Presumably, if you sign up for the bundle outside Apple TV, you’ll still have access to all three inside Apple TV, though you might have to jump through a few verification hoops to enable that access.
If you are an existing subscriber to, say, Hulu, via Apple TV, seems to make sense to dump that subscription and sign up for the bundle instead. Will the bundle signup be available within Apple TV?
Hulu with no ads is $11.99 a month. Assuming that no-ads Hulu is the one included with this bundle, the $12.99 bundle allows you access to Disney+ and ESPN+ for just a buck more a month. A no-brainer.
UPDATE: I’m told that the version of Hulu included with this bundle is the ad version, which runs $5.99 a month. Wonder if there’s a path to the ad-free version from the bundle. As is, that means you are paying $7 a month for Disney+ and ESPN+. Still a no-brainer, at least to me.
I believe I saw that it is the ad supported version of Hulu in the bundle, but its still a heck of a deal if you want all 3, you are essentially getting espn+ for free. I have no interest in the espn content but would still do the bundle since it doesn’t cost anymore and gives you access on the off chance something comes up I want to see. would love it if they added an option for the no ad version of Hulu as an upsell on the bundle. I would gladly pay the extra $6 a month.
The more I think about this, the less interested I am. Here’s why:
1) Ad supported Hulu. Havig done this and also the ad free version, the experience is MUCH better on the latter.
2) ESPN+… Not ESPN. You’re not getting the ESPN content here. No SportsCenter, NFL etc.
3) Disney+… the wild card. what will this have? Will it be interesting and compelling or just nice stuff?
Just wondering how long it will take all these streaming services to eliminate the month-to-month option and only offer a 4-month, 6-month, or 12-month deal, once people clue-in that you can pay for a month, cancel, wait 3 months, sign-up again for a month, cancel, etc.
I don’t
like tv without commercials because there is never any indication when to get up for foods or bathroom breaks.