Disney+ Confirmed for November Launch in NZ
August 20, 2019 
6 Comments
NZ will be among the first countries in the global rollout of subscription video streaming service Disney+.
It will launch here and in Australia on November 19, a week after its bow in the US, Canada and the Netherlands.
The service will cost $10 a month or $100 a year, which is in line with the other territories announced so far (Disney+ is targeting 60 million to 90 million subs globally by 2024).
In the US, Disney+ will be bundled with other Disney services ESPN+ and Hulu. That’s not likely here because of tangled licensing issues across free-to-air, pay and digital platforms.
The impact on local players isn’t clear but Sky, which has its own Disney movies channel, screens Disney movies on other channels and for rental, and streams Disney fare on Neon, is expected to clarify its position later today.
Original Disney+ content will include Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Encore! and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
It also will showcase Disney’s vast library and the mammoth slate of titles it’s acquired through its purchase of 21st Century Fox, including every season of The Simpsons.
These titles will continue to play on other services but exclusive to Disney+ will be the Walt Disney Studios movies released from this year, including Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Subscribers will be able to stream Disney+ via built-in TV apps, Apple, Google, Android and Chomecast devices, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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August 20, 2019 at 8:39 am
WOW, that’s wonderful news. I think I can afford $10 a month. Good to know it will be on Apple TV 🙂
Wonder if it will work on my Apple TV3 and will we see the same content as the US or is ours a cut-down version?
I expect the content to be the same, as it would seem one of the reasons NZ and Australia are among the first countries to get Disney+ is because Disney’s multi-year licensing deals in these territories are expiring. So programme/movie rights shouldn’t be an issue. What Kiwis won’t be able to access is the discounted Disney+/ESPN+/Hulu bundle because many of the programmes it covers are still under license to different broadcasters here.
The more I read about Disney+ the more excited I feel. They certainly have got some great movies and shows coming up. I see Disney want to have Hulu worldwide so we may get it here someday 🙂
But what if we had a perfect system in which TVNZ could gain a strong line-up to win over these other networks?
TVNZ can start to think how to recreate another Thursday and Friday primetime line-up of better entertaining shows.