Disney+ Launches New Era of Streaming, With a Few Hiccups

November 18, 2019

The much-anticipated Disney+ streaming service officially launched on Tuesday in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. In the first 24 hours, the app was downloaded 3.2 million times. Demand for the new over-the-top streaming service prompted the company to announced that it had exceeded its highest expectations -- but with problematic results.Many users were unable to launch the app on its huge opening

day. Forty-two percent of users had problems just logging in, while 57 percent

reported video streaming issues, according to Internet traffic monitoring site Downdetector.Those who had problems connecting took to social media to complain,

and a common refrain was that even when they could log on and start

streaming, the service crashed repeatedly. However, there was some

levity as well.Much of this is par for the course when it comes to streaming

services, which all too quickly can overwhelm a provider's ability to

deliver content. HBO Go and HBO Now, the streaming services of pay-TV

giant HBO, experienced crashes during the season premieres and season

finales of True Detective and Game of Thrones -- and in those cases it was a single program that triggered a temporary outage."Some teething problems aren't unexpected," said

Dan Cryan, principal analyst at MTM London."They had a fantastic number of subscribers, and the problems that

users experienced are unlikely to be a long-term issue unless it

persists," he told TechNewsWorld.However, it isn't clear -- problems aside -- how many of those

customers will remain for the long run."The numbers are meaningless at this point," suggested Colin Dixon, principal analyst at

nScreen Media."There were a number of offers that essentially created an

artificially high spike of users," he told TechNewsWorld.







The arrival of Disney+ could be the biggest game changer in the OTT

space, simply because of the sheer volume of content it offers.

Disney+ is home to content from Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox,

Marvel Studios, Pixar and Lucasfilm. It is the home for Star Wars, Marvel superheroes and The Simpsons.Out of the gate, subscribers already gained access to more than 500

movies and 7,500 TV episodes -- including new exclusive programming -- and

that number will increase over the next few years. This breadth of

content could give the Mouse House a major advantage over rival

streaming services that have entered the market in recent years, and

could put Disney+ toe-to-toe with industry giant Netflix.At present Disney+ is available for US$7 a month in the United States, or

$70 a year, which breaks down to $5.83 a month. That is less than...

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