Announced price and launch date – Variety

Disney + will launch in the US on November 12, 2019 and will cost $ 6.99 per month, the company said, nearly half of Netflix's standard $ 12.99 package.

The subscription video-on-demand service represents Disney's most important and aggressive advance in the video streaming wars. Mouse House is much cheaper than Netflix on Disney + customers with a mix of content that is appealing to many demographics, including movies and TV shows from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and Disney.

The company announced the awards, launch date and other details Thursday at the 2019 Disney Investor Day in Burbank, California. Asked by an badyst why she priced $ 6.99, Disney President and CEO Bob Iger has entered this space and we want to reach as many people as possible. "

Disney + in the United States will also be available for an optional annual package priced at $ 69.99 per year (or $ 5.83 per month).

In 2018, Disney films earned more than $ 7 billion and sold 900 million tickets worldwide. "We think the demand will translate to Disney +," said Kevin Mayer, president of Disney's Direct to-Consumer and International business segment. "We are confident that consumers will love the service."

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At launch, Disney + will include 7,500 episodes of current and live TV shows; 25 original series and 10 original and special films; 400 titles of library film; and 100 recent movies released in theaters, according to Agnes Chu, vice president of content, Disney +. This includes exclusive rights to the 30 seasons of "The Simpsons", which Disney has obtained through the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. During the fifth year of Disney +, the company hopes to have about fifty original annual production, said Chu.

Disney's chief financial officer, Christine McCarthy, said she was counting on 60 to 90 million Disney + subscribers worldwide by the end of fiscal year 2024 (two-thirds outside the US state). -United). Disney +'s maximum operating losses are expected to be between 2020-2022 and expected to be in profitability in fiscal year 2024, McCarthy said.

During the 2020 fiscal year, Disney will spend a billion dollars on original programming for Disney +, while its operating expenses will rise to just under a billion dollars, according to McCarthy. The original expenditures are expected to reach about $ 2.5 billion by 2024.

Disney + will be an ad-free service, supported only by subscription fees. Michael Paull, president of Disney Streaming Services (formerly BAMTech), is going to have a broad platform footprint, covering the web (on disneyplus.com), gaming consoles, smart TVs and connected streaming devices, including Roku and PlayStation 4.

From here two years, Disney aims to deploy Disney + virtually everywhere in the world. Following the initial launch in North America in the fourth quarter of 2019, the service will be deployed in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific regions starting in the fourth quarter and early 2020, and in Eastern Europe and Latin America from the end of 2020. Expansion will occur as Disney's rights revert to the licensee company, according to Paull.

The new Disney + details come close to two years after Disney announced the end of its exclusive release deal with Netflix in the summer of 2017 and initially revealed its intention to launch its own direct-to-consumer rival . Last fall, the company announced the Disney + name (echoing its ESPN + subscription offering) and previously announced that the SVOD service would be launched in the US by the end of 2019.

Disney + will be the exclusive SVOD directory for new releases of Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel from 2019, which includes "Captain Marvel", "Toy Story 4", "Dumbo", "Avengers: Endgame", " Frozen II ", the remake of" Aladdin "and" The Lion King "," Maleficent: Mistress of Evil "and" Star Wars: Episode IX ". It also offers a series of original series and films.

The service will also provide access to Disney's film library – including, from the first year of the Disney + launch, all Star Wars movies, according to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. The Disney + launch will also include 250 hours of NatGeo content, including Oscar-winning "Jane" and "Free Solo" documentary films, and hundreds of Disney Channel series episodes, as well as the brand new "Phineas and Ferb". movie featuring many of the same voice voiced.

At one point, Disney will probably "propose" a discount package that combines Disney +, ESPN + and Hulu, according to Mayer. But he did not provide details. Disney + content will be available for download for offline viewing and will be available in 4K format, he added.

Disney offers three separate subscription streaming products – with the potential to bundle them – to give consumers more choice, says Iger: "A big package … would not be the right thing to do in this space" .

In addition to forecasts for Disney +, McCarthy predicted that Hulu would have between 40 million and 60 million subscribers by the end of fiscal year 2024 and that operating losses would reach $ 1.5 billion in 2019 (and that Hulu would reach profitability in 2023 or 2024). ESPN + is expected to have between 8 million and 12 million subscribers by 2024, she said.

Disney plans to market Disney + with "a synergy campaign of unprecedented scale in the history of the Walt Disney Company," said Ricky Strauss, president of Disney + content and marketing. He said the goal was to achieve a 95% brand awareness of the Disney + brand among its target audience.

Now that Disney owns 60% of Hulu (via the acquisition of 21st Century Fox), it is currently exploring Hulu's international market launch, Mayer said. Disney has engaged in active discussions with AT & T to acquire the 10% stake of WarnerMedia in Hulu, Variety reported.

During Investor Day, the company screened content clips for Disney +, including "Frozen II". "The Mandalorian", a big budget series that takes place in the universe of Star Wars, written and produced by Jon Favreau; and the 10 episodes of Disney Channel's "High School Musical: The Series" based on the movie franchise. He also watched the original Disney + "Noelle" films, starring Anna Kendrick as Santa's daughter and Bill Hader as his brother, and "Stargirl" as Grace VanderWaal. , and in a preview of the live remake. from "Lady and the Tramp". (However, when he posted it on the Web, he made it obscure, citing "rights issues.")

Mr. Mayer also briefly introduced the Disney + app to the audience of badysts and media, noting that users will be able to navigate the service by brand. Disney + subscribers will be able to create custom profiles with custom experiences based on past viewing and preferred content. The service also includes parental controls subject to an age limit.

Iger had previously said that Disney + would be "significantly cheaper" than Netflix, and badysts had badumed that Disney could charge US $ 5-8 per month for this service. In comparison, Netflix's standard two HD bundle costs $ 12.99 per month after price increases, while HBO now costs $ 14.99.

Wall Street has generally been optimistic about Disney +'s strategy – although questions are emerging as to how the economic operation of the service will work.

Analysts' projections for Disney + subscribers were much more cautious than those presented by Disney on Thursday. In a note on April 8, Morgan Stanley's Ben Swinburne was predicting 5 million Disney + submarines by the end of 2020 and 30 million by 2024. He estimated that Disney would spend between $ 2 billion and $ 3 billion dollars in content badociated with Disney + (which includes approximately $ 1.2 billion in lost content licensing revenue).

Citing Disney + as a major catalyst, Daniel Salmon, BMO Capital Markets' Media and Internet Analyst, spurred Disney's actions to "outperform" (from a "market performer") and set a benchmark. 140 months on 140 shares per share. "We continue to love [Netflix] and [Amazon] more than [Disney]but we are comfortable recommending all three because we expect that they are all long-term winners of the global market. [direct-to-consumer] continuously, "Salmon writes in a note published before Disney's Investor Day Briefing.

In recent months, Disney has announced a host of programs that it was lining up for Disney +. This includes "The Mandalorian"; a prequel to "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" with Diego Luna; the next season of the animated Star Wars series "Clone Wars"; and a new series based on Pixar's "Monsters Inc." titled "Monsters at Work".

In addition, Disney + is about to win several series of Marvel activities, including one focused on Loki (starring Tom Hiddleston); "WandaVision", with Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany, taking over her role in The Vision; and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" starring Anthony Mackie as Falcon and Sebastian Stan in the title Soldier in the Winter. In addition, shows are in preparation with Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Hawkeye, with Jeremy Renner who should take the role.

Earlier this week, Disney announced a series of documentary series including Kristen Bell's movie "Encore!", In which she brings together members of high school musicals, and a documentary series by director and producer Leslie Iwerks recounting Story of Walt Disney Imagineering. History of over 65 years.

Disney + will also feature several behind-the-scenes production documentaries for "Frozen II," Favreau's live action film, "The Lion King," as well as various Pixar and Star Wars productions, as well as for "Marvel What If …? "Animated series (adapted from the comic book series of the same name) that explores alternative stories for characters from the Marvel film universe.