What you need to know
- Disney CEO Bog Iger talked with CNBC about Disney+ today.
- Iger is not worried about Apple TV+ as it sees its service as a "unique" offering.
- Disney has also partnered with Verizon to offer customers a free year of the service.
Disney+ has nothing to be afraid of from Apple TV+ or any other streaming service, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger. In an interview with CNBC, Iger answered questions about the competition in content and pricing Disney's new streaming service will face, and the CEO is very confident that Disney will differentiate itself from the pack:
"We're not really worried about competition in terms of pricing because we have such a unique product...So while we view the others as competition, we're not fixated on the competitive side of things here."
Iger went on to list out all of the different kinds of content you will be able to find on the service. It will not only feature the full catalog of films and TV shows from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, and National Geographic, but newly released ones will be added eventually as well, not to forget all of the original content that Disney is creating for the service.
Apple TV+ and Disney+ do seem to be going for two different sets of audiences. Apple TV+ is shaping up to be more in line with the way HBO has approached its content in the past, whereas Disney is focusing on its more family-friendly focused content as it always has.
That doesn't mean that the company hasn't at least noticed Apple's way of enticing new customers. At its September iPhone event, Tim Cook announced that anyone who purchased an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV would get their first year of Apple TV+ for free for a limited time. Disney has responded by partnering with Verizon to offer Verizon customers the same exact thing:
"Verizon and The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer and International segment announced a wide-ranging agreement that will offer all Verizon wireless unlimited customers, new Fios Home Internet and 5G Home Internet customers 12 months of Disney+."
Iger talked about the partnership in the interview on CNBC, saying that the offer is a "wholesale deal" for Disney and that the company "will get paid for that." He also believes that it will help boost the service right from the beginning:
"It will, I think, have a significant effect — not think, I know — in terms of jump-starting subscriptions."
We will find out soon enough, as Apple TV+ is debuting on November 1st and Disney+ is right behind on November 12th.
