Disney+ is going to launch in Europe a week earlier than expected.
The company announced on Tuesday, that the launch date is now March 24 instead of March 31.
Pricing will be the same, £5.99/€6.99 per month or £59.99/€69.99 for a full year. That puts it at roughly the same price as the US.
An early Disney+ launch is definitely good news
The company didn’t say why it is planning to launch the service a week sooner in Europe, today. But it is definitely welcome news.
As of right now, Disney+ is only available in the US, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
When it opens its doors in Europe, it will be available in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK. Nowhere near worldwide, but it is getting there.
Disney+ has thousands (if not millions) of hours of content available. This is largely thanks to the many, many shows and movies it has made for its family of TV channels over the years. And it is also bringing in some new content that will only be available on Disney+.
You’ll find the latest from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic all on one streaming service. Which is pretty incredible. There are a few Marvel and Star Wars movies missing from the service for now, as they are licensed to other services like Netflix, STARZ and others. Once those licensing agreements run out, they will then be available on Disney+.
Disney+ made this announcement the same day as Netflix’s earnings
It was a bit of an interesting thing, but Disney+ did make this announcement on the same day as Netflix’s earnings are set to be announced.
This is when we are really going to learn how Disney+ has impacted Netflix and its subscribers. Many analysts have said that Disney+ has taken thousands of subscribers away from Netflix. But the company hasn’t reported earnings since Disney+ launched, so it’s really hard to see right now.
The announcement was definitely designed to take some attention away from Netflix, and well, so far it’s working. Of course, those in the handful of European countries that are going to get Disney+ a full week earlier now, definitely won’t mind.
If you haven’t already signed up for Disney+, you can do so by clicking here. It’s $6.99 per month in the US, or $69.99 per year. Which is about half of the price of Netflix right now – before they raise their rates again.