New mega-streamer to launch here on same day and date as U.S.
BURBANK, Calif. – The Walt Disney Company announced Monday its direct-to-consumer streaming platform Disney+ will launch in Canada and The Netherlands on November 12th, the same day as its much-anticipated U.S. launch.
It will then debut in Australia and New Zealand one week after that.
However, with the Canadian rights to certain Disney content still owned by Canadian companies, we wondered what the Disney+ offer will actually look like here, because it will be a different. Netflix subscribers and CBS All Access subscribers, for example, know the content libraries found south of the border on those streamers are much broader.
Unfortunately, Disney will not yet say what the content catalogue will be in Canada come November 12th. While Disney+ will launch with 10 original exclusive episodic series, movies and documentaries, and will premiere more than 45 originals within the first year – globally across all markets the service is available, including Canada – there are many titles which are up in the air.
For example, Bell Media is one of the holders of the TV rights to The Simpsons in Canada, a former Fox property now owned by the Mouse House. In much deeper with Disney is Corus Entertainment which, along with its three Disney-branded specialty channels, also purchased the rights to the Star Wars movies with a multi-year deal announced in 2017.
We asked the companies specifically about the platforms and titles mentioned above and received the following answers.
A Corus spokesperson said, in an email: “Corus and Disney have a strong partnership in which success of Disney linear services and Disney+ are not mutually exclusive. Disney’s content pipeline has expanded to create content for their OTT service while supporting their linear services with the same volume of new and unique content as in past years. Corus will continue to exclusively offer first-run premieres of the newest series, specials and Disney movies on Disney Channel, Disney JR and Disney XD in Canada, airing day and date with the U.S.”
That said, the Star Wars movies deal is only for TV, which would lend one to assume Disney+ retains the streaming rights for Canada and will launch with those titles.
From Bell Media, its spokesperson told us Disney+ will have “no impact and no change to Disney programming on our platforms.” Since The Simpsons runs in repeats on Bell’s Much and is not available via Crave, Bell’s primary streaming platform, nor much.com, that leads us to assume Disney has the library streaming rights for that show in Canada. The show also airs on Rogers Media’s FX, but is not available for viewing in FXnowcanada.ca.
Disney+ library content will vary by region, and the company said it has selected the above mentioned markets for its first global foray because much of its own content is available for streaming here.
Disney also announced the retail price ($8.99/month or $89.99/year, no mention of HST…) and that it has reached “global agreements with nearly all the major platforms to distribute the Disney+ app across partner mobile and connected TV devices.”
None of the announced platforms are advanced Canadian TV platforms such as Rogers Ignite, Shaw BlueSky, Telus Optik or Bell Fibe. We asked if Disney+ will be made available as an app on those platforms, right beside Netflix, which they all offer, and we’re still waiting on a response from them.
A Bell Canada spokesman told Cartt.ca “we don’t have anything announce.” Update: Rogers told us Tuesday "We’re always looking to integrate the best content on Ignite TV. Disney is an important partner and we look forward to discussing how we can work together to continue bringing our customers the very best in entertainment."
That said, with Disney+ being added to all of Apple (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV, and fully integrated with the Apple TV app; Google (Android phones, Android TV devices, Google Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices); Microsoft (Xbox One); Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation4 and all Android based Sony TVs); and Roku (Roku streaming players and Roku TV models), it would seem to us Canadian BDUs would sorely want to add a Disney+ app to their advanced TV systems.
The primary global video platform missing from the announcement is Amazon, it should be noted.
No matter what happens with the content catalogue in Canada or distribution, Disney+ will offer viewers content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and a bunch more. This will be popular. Click here to read confirmation of that.
