Danielle Solzman
With today’s launch of Disney+ and Disney unleashing their film vault, it marks the real start of the streaming war with the likes of Netflix and Apple TV+.
The key difference between Disney+ and Apple TV+ is that Disney has more options available. It’s that simple. They have an entire film vault unopened and then some. Nobody is really subscribing to Disney+ because they want to watch some of the new things. Well, they might. The fact of the matter is THE DISNEY VAULT is open! You can watch The Mighty Ducks or Newsies until your heart’s content. Or–if you’re like me–you can fill in the Disney holes in your film history. Yes, this also includes Wall-E. The thing with Apple is that the company has to build up its programming. For the time being, there’s not much to offer. A few movies but mostly, it’s television series that they’re using in order to lure viewers. One of those is The Morning Show. It also helps that the series features Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell.
At this point in time, it’s safe to say that both Netflix and Hulu have come to define their identity. Hulu, more or less, is where we go to watch some of our favorite programming on the day after airing. Netflix really turned the corner this year. There’s no other way to describe it. Gone are the days where you could just rent DVDs from Netflix. They’re a true player in the industry now and they’re going all out for Awards Season with the likes of The Irishman and Marriage Story to name a few.
While CBS All-Access is truly its own thing, the platform hasn’t really done much to warrant our attention. Yes, there’s Star Trek: Discovery but The Orville drew more acclaim for being closer to Star Trek than the actual Star Trek series. I expect that things will change when the Picard series launches. If Patrick Stewart is unable to draw eyeballs, there’s going to be a major debate.
HBO Max and Peacock will make their entrance in 2020. What we know right now is that the latter will be free for consumers but ad-supported. Because of the HBO programming, the former is not expected to be among the cheaper options available.
Disney+ is going to let it be known that there’s a new sheriff in town.
