- Apple and Disney are about to launch their highly anticipated streaming services.
- Apple TV Plus launches on Friday and costs $5 a month. Disney Plus launches on November 12 and costs $7 a month.
- A standard subscription to Netflix, meanwhile, costs $13 a month – more than the price of Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus combined.
- The presence of Apple and Disney is going to raise the bar for what people expect from a subscription streaming service.
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The streaming landscape is going to change drastically in the next couple of weeks.
Right now, the big names in streaming are Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and HBO. It’s been this way for years now.
But this Friday, Apple joins the fray.
And in about two weeks, Disney, the 800-pound gorilla, will enter the picture.
The competition is about to heat up. Apple and Disney are about to raise the bar for what people expect out of streaming services in terms of quantity, quality, and price.
This Friday, Apple will release Apple TV Plus, where Apple's original programming will live. It costs $5 a month, but you get one free year of service if you buy an Apple product like an iPhone or Mac computer.
Early reviews for the first Apple TV Plus service are mixed, with some critics calling series like "The Morning Show" and "See" underwhelming, at least at launch. But Apple has a ton of star-power — and promise — attached to this thing.
Just look at all of these names, who have committed to building series for Apple TV Plus: Steven Spielberg. Steve Carell. Chris Evans. NBA star Kevin Durant. Kristen Bell. Rashida Jones. Oprah Winfrey. (To name a few.)
Questions about quality aside, these are A-listers you don't usually see attached to streaming services. Netflix and HBO get some pretty big names, too, including some of the names above, but Apple and Disney are going to attract a lot of big-name Hollywood talents. That will put more pressure on Netflix and HBO to continually do the same.
In about two weeks, Disney will launch Disney Plus, which costs just $7 a month. (Disney has also been offering promotions throughout the year, so it can be even cheaper than that.)
Disney Plus will host a ton of original programming like Apple TV Plus, but it also benefits from Disney's massive vault. On top of Disney's own movies and shows, Disney also owns Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and Fox (including "The Simpsons"), so expect an onslaught of options.
Even if you buy subscriptions to both Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus, that's still cheaper than a single "Standard" subscription to Netflix.
Netflix has three plans:
- "Basic" limits you to one screen and is standard-definition only. It costs $9 a month.
- "Standard" gives you high-definition video and lets you watch two screens at once. That costs $13 a month.
- "Premium" offers 4K support (on content where it's available), and you can watch on four screens at once. It costs $16 a month.
Similarly, HBO Now costs $15 a month.
Lots of people watch HBO and Netflix, since they have a ton of programming that people like to talk about, but the presences of Apple and Disney might make some people re-think their subscriptions.
All of these streaming services start to add up. Hulu can cost anywhere from $6 a month to $12 a month. Amazon Prime Video can cost $9 a month, though it's included if you're an Amazon Prime member.
If you want all of the above services, plus the new ones from Apple and Disney, it's going to cost you: If you buy into all the above services - Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, a standard Netflix subscription, HBO Now, and Hulu - you're going to pay around $46 a month.
It will be interesting to see how people receive Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus. But given how the companies behind these services have a ton of power, money, and influence in the tech and entertainment spheres, I'm expecting a big shift in the landscape. The pressure will be on incumbents like Netflix and HBO to prove the value of their offerings.
HBO is in pretty good shape, even after the global bow of "Game of Thrones." It has a ton of hit shows, big-name actors, and interesting series like "Watchmen," "Euphoria," "Silicon Valley," and more. It has always been a premium service, so don't expect much to change there. HBO will also have a new "Max" service coming in 2020, and the company is pouring a ton of resources into that.
Netflix, on the other hand, is perhaps the most popular streaming service - for shows like "Stranger Things," movies like "To All The Boys I've Loved Before," and excellent docu-series like the new "Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner" series from David Chang - but it also has a ton of programming I'll just never watch. Netflix could definitely be pickier about which shows and movies it chooses to produce.
As Apple and Disney release their streaming services, it will be interesting to see how these mainstays respond. There will be more pressure to create shows that are not just good, but phenomenal - both popular and critically acclaimed. Hopefully, these services (particularly Netflix and HBO) choose to also re-examine their own monthly prices.
But two things are certain: More competition in this space is a very good thing, and there has never been a better time to be a cord-cutter.