3 ms·

What's worse, is that they can't snap a finger and distribute worldwide. They lobbied themselves into legal corners with all these licensing shenanigans.

burnte 7y ago
They absolutely can if they choose to. They own the rights, they don't need nations' permission to do things with it. However, their lawyers need lots of time to create all sorts of artificially restrictive terms of service and silly contracts with partners rather than just opening the service worldwide.
- shaklee3 7y ago
  That's absolutely not true. It's the reason movies like Coco are still on Netflix and not Disney plus. You can't just renege on a previous contract because you started your own streaming service. These things take time.
  - burnte 7y ago
    I was unclear, I meant that the restrictions are artificial; based on contracts and in-company reasoning, not that the law prevents them from letting users in other nations buy subscriptions. Yes, they can't reneg on contracts, but the only reason Disney+ isn't available in other nations is entirely of their own making, and they could let Ukranians or Vietnamese into Disney+ whenever they choose (aside from existing agreed upon obligations), there is no national-legal restriction.
    - alwayseasy 7y ago
      While you are right Disney+ could open everywhere, it makes no business sense to launch in some countries with underwhelming media libraries especially when it's the crux of the Disney marketing. Many countries that have "Media Laws" that define when movies can be broadcasted on streaming services.
- Mindwipe 7y ago
  > They own the rights They don't, and they are tied into long term exclusivity contracts in many territories. It's pretty well established that in the UK for example they can't launch the service until the exclusive first pay window distribution deal they have with Sky on all the Marvel titles expires, and that's pretty obviously on the 31st March 2020.
  - burnte 7y ago
    As I mentioned to someone else, I was unclear. I meant there's no legislative reason then can't let foreign users into Disney+, contractual obligations are agreements that expire, as opposed to a statute prohibition on being open to other customers.
tluyben2 7y ago
A lot of it is totally new content; how could they not write up the contracts a few months ago to allow global distro?
- Mindwipe 7y ago
  About a tenth of 1% is totally new content. There's really a couple of documentaries, two features and the Mandalorian. And that's it. They couldn't launch the service with just that - Apple are struggling a lot and basically giving away their service and they still have more than that.

burnte 7y ago

They absolutely can if they choose to. They own the rights, they don't need nations' permission to do things with it. However, their lawyers need lots of time to create all sorts of artificially restrictive terms of service and silly contracts with partners rather than just opening the service worldwide.

shaklee3 7y ago
That's absolutely not true. It's the reason movies like Coco are still on Netflix and not Disney plus. You can't just renege on a previous contract because you started your own streaming service. These things take time.
- burnte 7y ago
  I was unclear, I meant that the restrictions are artificial; based on contracts and in-company reasoning, not that the law prevents them from letting users in other nations buy subscriptions. Yes, they can't reneg on contracts, but the only reason Disney+ isn't available in other nations is entirely of their own making, and they could let Ukranians or Vietnamese into Disney+ whenever they choose (aside from existing agreed upon obligations), there is no national-legal restriction.
  - alwayseasy 7y ago
    While you are right Disney+ could open everywhere, it makes no business sense to launch in some countries with underwhelming media libraries especially when it's the crux of the Disney marketing. Many countries that have "Media Laws" that define when movies can be broadcasted on streaming services.
Mindwipe 7y ago
> They own the rights They don't, and they are tied into long term exclusivity contracts in many territories. It's pretty well established that in the UK for example they can't launch the service until the exclusive first pay window distribution deal they have with Sky on all the Marvel titles expires, and that's pretty obviously on the 31st March 2020.
- burnte 7y ago
  As I mentioned to someone else, I was unclear. I meant there's no legislative reason then can't let foreign users into Disney+, contractual obligations are agreements that expire, as opposed to a statute prohibition on being open to other customers.

tluyben2 7y ago

A lot of it is totally new content; how could they not write up the contracts a few months ago to allow global distro?

Mindwipe 7y ago
About a tenth of 1% is totally new content. There's really a couple of documentaries, two features and the Mandalorian. And that's it. They couldn't launch the service with just that - Apple are struggling a lot and basically giving away their service and they still have more than that.