Disney announced Wednesday that, soon, you’ll need to spend an extra $7 or $9 on top of your regular Disney+ subscription to let your friends and family outside your address access your account. According to the company, this is all for your benefit, even though all this does is make an already-expensive subscription even more costly.
The House of Mouse introduced its long-planned paid sharing scheme with the statement, “Disney+ expanded its paid sharing program to give its users ways to enjoy their Disney+ subscription along with a family member or friend.” Previously, you could accomplish that goal by sending your friends your username and password.
Now, for anybody living in the U.S., Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe, and Asia, you’ll need to add an “Extra Member” to let anybody outside your home watch their favorite Pixar movie or finally watch Agatha All Along. Those on the ad-based Disney+ Basic tier need to spend an extra $7 per month on top of the $8 they currently spend. Those with Disney+ Premium who don’t want ads need to spend an additional $9 for extra members on top of the $14 they spend a month for their subscription.
Disney has already updated its help page, breaking down its subscriptions. Extra members can only watch on one device at a time, limiting the experience for separate households. Disney+ has a lot of bundles you can buy, including ones that come with Hulu, ESPN+, or Max. If you have any bundle, you can’t decide to get an extra member. Also, if your subscription is billed through any 3rd party, you can’t add additional people to your account. The only alternative, Disney says, is to force your family and friends to buy their own subscriptions.
You can transfer profiles to a new subscription or extra member if you want to keep settings and watch history, but you can’t do it with minor or Junior Mode profiles. Furthermore, subscribers need to do extra work if they ever want to watch Disney+ outside their homes for any significant time. If you log in from outside your usual residence, you may be prompted to sign in with a passcode and either set yourself away from home or update your new address.
Disney+’s “extra member” scheme took a page from Netflix’s recent password sharing crackdown. Netflix requires subscribers to spend an additional $8 monthly for the $15 Standard or $23 premium plan. Those on the lesser tier can only add one extra member, but if you spend more, you can add two. Netflix’s ad-based tier doesn’t allow any additional accounts.
Streaming services have been working hard to make them cost more and offer less. According to reports based on anonymous sources, Disney may be working on a type of live TV channel setup akin to the FAST channels available on the Disney-owned ABC app. The reports note that, unlike free streaming services like Tubi or Plex, you’ll need to remain a Disney+ subscriber to access these ad-focused TV channels.
As much as streaming is thought to disrupt the old cable TV paradigm, services like Disney+ and Netflix are now working their hardest to recreate ad-based paid TV. That includes sticking a fork in the eye of anybody who dares mooch off their family or friend’s subscriptions.
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