If you are on the fence about another streaming service, Disney may have just sweetened the pot for Disney Plus. Initially, it was released that Disney Plus would be available for $7 per month. However, Disney has announced that there will be bundles available with Disney plus. I’m excited to announce that Hulu and ESPN+ will be part of a Disney plus bundle option! This will be about a $5 savings when you bundle all three, which is not a bad saving at that price point. The bundle will be available day 1 when Disney Plus is released on November 12th.
A Little Backstory
Bob Iger announced that there is “Nothing is more important to us than getting this right”. They are working on getting Disney plus distributed on various devices at this point and has been in talks with Google, Amazon, and Apple. The overall goal seems to be to scale their service quickly. Disney has already disclosed that they are predicting to lose money during the quarters after the release. This is all speculation at this time but predictions could be around $900 Million loss during the fourth quarter.
It is important to note that Disney owns shares for Hulu and ESPN, which is why they are able to bundle these products/services together. The prior ownership of ESPN had impacted the merger of Fox and Disney as Fox Sports was unable to be part of the deal due to the possible monopoly of Fox Sports and ESPN being with one organization.
What Will be Included
Disney plus will hit the ground running with over 300 movies from the start. Moreover, they will expand to over 500 movies before the end of the first year. This is impressive for Disney Plus library right out of the gate. If you bundle, you will also have the entire libraries of Hulu and ESPN+ on top of the released shows and movies on Disney Plus. It is also important to remember that ESPN+ does not include ESPN (cable) content. It has its own shows and streaming of live sports however no NFL or NBA. If you are a Disney fan, this will be an excellent deal for the price. With D23 coming up later this month, I would not be surprised if more details are released on August 23rd.