The so-called ‘streaming wars’ begun in November last year when entertainment giant Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) came up with its streaming platform Disney Plus, and soon enough, it snapped as many as 10 million sign-ups in the United States.
In a new development that is going to be a positive for Disney investors, the company confirmed on Tuesday that it is all set to launch its service in the United Kingdom from March 24. It should be noted that the new launch date for the Netflix rival in the U.K. is actually a week ahead of schedule.
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Disney revealed that a Disney Plus subscription is going to cost £5.99 per month, and if a customer chooses the yearly option, then he would be charged a discounted £59.99. However, that is not all. In addition to the U.K., the service is also going to be launched in Austria, Spain, Ireland, France, Austria, and Switzerland. Those launches will happen on March 24 as well. Disney is hoping to expand into other markets in Europe by the end of the year, and that represents a significant expansion within a year of its launch.
This is a major development in the context of the streaming wars. Over the years, Netflix enjoyed an almost unchallenged dominance over this market both in the United States and across the globe. Many legacy media companies are now eager to get a slice of this growing market and analysts to believe that Disney has the product that could pose a stiff challenge for Netflix. The monthly fee for a subscription is lower than the cheapest one offered by Netflix.
In addition to that, Disney has the biggest catalog of content on offer in the industry, and that could help streaming service in getting new customers with far more ease. Additionally, it is also spending a lot of original content. The launch of Disney Plus in the U.K. and other nations in Europe is going to be kick off the next chapter of the streaming wars.
