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A24 technology
Tuesday 12 November 2019
A Whole New World: Disney streaming debuts with hit brands

By MAE ANDERSON streaming service.
NEW YORK (AP) — Disney But compared with other
will sprinkle its pixie dust on newcomers, experts be-
the streaming arena Tues- lieve Disney will have no
day, as its Disney Plus ser- problem gaining — and
vice debuts with an arse- keeping — the 60 million to
nal of marquee franchises 90 million worldwide sub-
including Marvel and Star scribers it is targeting for
Wars, original series with 2024. It took Netflix twice as
a built-in fan base and a long to get to 90 million.
cheap price to boot.The "Disney Plus has a gigan-
$7-a-month commercial- tic array of content and a
free service is poised to set library that's unmatched,
the standard for other ser- so it feels like an easy ad-
vices like WarnerMedia's dition for consumers to get
HBO Max and NBCUniver- a gigantic library at that
sal's Peacock to follow, as low price," said Tim Hanlon,
major media companies CEO of Vertere Group.
behind hit TV shows and Bernie McTernan, inter-
movies seek to siphon the net and media analyst
subscription revenue now at Rosenblatt Securities,
going to Netflix and other said Apple's venture into
streaming giants. In this April 3, 2019, file photo characters from Disney and Fox movies are displayed behind Cath- streaming, Apple TV Plus,
Disney's properties speak to leen Taff, president of distribution, franchise management, business and audience insight for Walt has to build brand recogni-
its strengths. Besides classic Disney Studios during the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2019, tion for its new shows, while
characters such as Snow the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) at Caesars Palace viewers may have difficul-
in Las Vegas.
White and Pinocchio, Dis- Associated Press ties seeing what HBO Max
ney has Pixar, Marvel, Star offers beyond the standard
Wars and National Geo- in marketing in Kansas mated Pixar movie "Coco" were eligible to buy three HBO subscription.
graphic — big names that City, said she signed up and the live-action "Beau- years of Disney Plus service Disney said it was pleased
most people would recog- because of her husband's ty and the Beast." Others up front for the price of two with a recent test in the
nize. Disney Plus will also enthusiasm about the Star like "Maleficent: Mistress of years. Customers of some Netherlands, in which con-
have all 30 past seasons Wars series "The Mandalo- Evil" haven't been released Verizon wireless and home- sumers got to try the ser-
of "The Simpsons." Original rian" and her daughter's for streaming yet. Disney internet plans can get a vice for free, without origi-
shows include "The Man- "love affair with princesses expects 620 movies and year free. nal content or full library of
dalorian," set in the Star and everything Disney." 10,000 TV episodes by 2024, The hope is that subscribers classics.
Wars universe, and one on Disney Plus's $7 a month up from 500 movies and will stick around once they "The service connected
the Marvel character Loki. price is about half of the 7,500 episodes on Tuesday. see what the service offers. with users across all four
Melissa Knerr, 26, a criminal $13 Netflix charges for its Disney has said that it is Long-term success is by no quadrants, male and fe-
defense attorney in Spring- most popular plan, and losing about $150 million means guaranteed. With male, adults and kids, driv-
field, Missouri, already has there are discounts for pay- in licensing revenue in the a slew of services launch- en by the breadth of our
Hulu, Netflix and Amazon ing for a full year up front. most recent fiscal year from ing, subscription fees can content and the affinity
Prime and wasn't sure she Disney is also offering a $13 terminating deals with Net- add up quickly. Consumers people have with it," Disney
wanted to pay for anoth- package bundling Disney flix and other services. But might be reluctant to drop CEO Bob Iger told financial
er one. She said she was Plus with two other services Disney is betting that what an existing service such as analysts Thursday.
swayed by Disney Plus's it owns, Hulu and ESPN Plus. it makes through subscrip- Netflix or Amazon Prime to Connor Clifton, 29, from
price tag and its "sheer That's $5 cheaper than tions will more than make pay for something untest- Houston, Texas, said he
amount of content." signing up for each one in- up for that — at least even- ed. is looking forward to "The
"I really love both the Star dividually. tually. "I can't keep up with so Mandalorian" Star Wars se-
Wars and Marvel franchises Everything won't be avail- Disney is boosting its sub- many services. It gets ex- ries as well as catching up
and I grew up watching able to stream right away, scription base initially with pensive," said William Pear- on recent Pixar films.
classic Disney shows and though, as Disney needs heavy promos, much as son, a Drexel University stu- "Paying for individual chan-
movies so I do think there to wait for existing deals Apple TV Plus has done and dent who describes himself nels is frustrating," he said,
will be enough content for with rival services to expire. HBO Max and Peacock as a "massive" Marvel fan "but I want to see the con-
me," she said. Recent movies missing at plan to do. Members of but already pays for Netflix, tent so I'm willing to pay for
Marlina Yates, who works launch include the ani- Disney's free D23 fan club HBO and the DC Comics it."q

Group says misinformation on the rise on Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In Group says misinformation political news shared on false news stories between timated 158.9 million views,
a story Nov. 6 about mis- on the rise on Facebook Facebook ahead of the Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 this year. along with 8.9 million likes,
information on Facebook, An advocacy group track- 2020 presidential elections. The stories they tracked had comments and shares. The
The Associated Press re- ing misinformation says it The group, Avaaz, said all been fact-checked and false stories targeted both
ported erroneously that a has found an increase in Wednesday that misinfor- debunked by Facebook's political parties, though
false story about Demo- fake political news shared mation is still being spread third-party fact-checking Avaaz says the majority
cratic Rep. Ilhan Omar on Facebook ahead of the on Facebook despite mea- partners, which include The were against Democrats
had an estimated 770,000 2020 presidential elections sures the company has Associated Press. and liberals. Most of the
views. It had an estimated SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An put in place since the 2016 The group found that, col- false news sources were
77,000 views. advocacy group tracking elections. lectively, the fake stories individual users' or non-offi-
A corrected version of the misinformation says it has The researchers tracked were posted more than 2.3 cial political pages.
story is below: found an increase in fake the 100 most widely shared million times and had an es- q