As of: February 9, 2024, 9:50 p.m
By: Lennart Schwenck
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Disney Plus is overhauling its streaming features.
Account sharing will no longer be available from March.
From summer 2024 it may become more expensive for subscribers.
Burbank – Sharing accounts on streaming services such as Disney+, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video is now common practice.
A subscription is taken out by one person, and then family and friends contribute financially to share the account.
This could change now.
Disney intends to make sharing Disney Plus accounts outside of your own household more difficult, similar to Netflix.
The announcement of this measure was made in August 2023 by Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, without providing any further details.
Now the company's plans are becoming more concrete, as
Comicbook.com
reports.
From the end of March 2024, it will no longer be possible to share your account with other users.
This step is similar to the measures that Netflix has already implemented in Germany and other countries.
Netflix was able to record massive success with this: up to five million new subscriptions.
The increase in subscriber numbers led to higher sales.
Is account sharing allowed?
A look at Disney's terms and conditions
With the new plans to prevent the sharing of account data, the question arises as to whether this so-called account sharing was actually allowed until now.
A look at the Disney+ terms and conditions provides answers.
Although it is possible to stream on Disney+ on multiple devices at the same time, sharing accounts with people outside your household is actually not permitted under the terms and conditions.
Disney+ is designed so that each user belongs to one household, so parents and children can stream different content at the same time.
Therefore, sharing an account with friends who do not live in the same household is actually prohibited, even if it has previously been tolerated.
Section 3bx of the Disney+ user agreement explicitly states: “Your contractual right of use does not authorize you to do the following: [...] share your access data with third parties.”
Streaming provider Disney+ prevents password sharing: Netflix generated five million new customers © Imago Images
Disney Plus prohibits its customers from sharing passwords - and informs them about it via email
Nevertheless, it is unlikely that users who have shared their access data will have to fear legal consequences.
As a rule, no claims for damages are made.
However, there is a risk that the account will be restricted or blocked.
Although Disney+ allows multiple profiles and simultaneous streaming, suspicious activity such as logging in from different locations could result in the streaming provider revoking the account's usage rights.
An email Disney sent to its U.S. subscribers said: “Unless your contract states otherwise, you may not share your subscription outside of your household.
We may, in our sole discretion, analyze the use of your account to determine compliance with this Agreement.
If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, we may restrict or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other action permitted by this Agreement.”
Account sharing: Netflix leads the way, Disney follows suit
Netflix announced as early as 2022 that it would take active action against password sharing.
This was initially introduced in the USA, and since May 2023 this regulation has also applied in Germany.
Since then, users outside the same household who want to share an account have to pay an additional contribution of 4.99 euros.
Although some concerns have been raised, this measure has proven successful.
Last May, Netflix announced that it had signed over five million new subscriptions since the policy was implemented, according to Comicbook.com.
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Disney Plus: New Flex subscription model coming in mid-2024
However, Disney is working on a subscription model that allows you to still share the account with people outside your own household.
According to Disney CFO Hugh Johnston, a Flex subscription will be introduced later in 2024 with exactly this goal.
The price for this will be announced in the second quarter, reports
Deadline
.
The steps Disney has now taken to curb account sharing were already planned for September 2023.
At a conference, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced: “We are actively working to address account sharing and
find
the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family.
Later this year, we will begin updating our subscriber agreements with additional terms and conditions and our sharing policies, and we will introduce tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger in an interview: “Netflix had a lead of over 10 years”
In an interview with
CNBC
, which took place just before the earnings press conference, Iger said that Netflix is the model for Disney's push for a stricter policy on password sharing: "Our goal is to not only make this business profitable, but “also making it a business that delivers margins that we are comfortable with and expect from all of our businesses,” he said.
“Netflix was over 10 years ahead of us.
We launched Disney streaming just over four years ago.
In many ways, the business is still nascent,” Iger continued.
However, the CEO assumes that the effects of this measure will only become apparent in 2025.
It remains to be seen whether the company can also achieve such success with the account barrier as Netflix.
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